Island Packet 44 Buyer's Guide
Shopping a used Island Packet 44 means chasing one of just 35 hulls built by Island Packet Yachts between 1992 and 1996 from Robert K. Johnson's drawings. She is a full-keel bluewater cutter with encapsulated ballast and a cockpit-driven sailplan, so the brokerage search is less about finding a stripped racer and more about judging how a specific liveaboard cruiser was kept.
Layouts on the Used Market
Every 44 carries two spacious staterooms, each with its own head, and the owners' aft cabin accesses a large aft head with a bathtub that also works as a stall shower. The main salon has twin port lounge seats and starboard L-shaped seating around a folding table that seats six but stows to open the cabin; the port settee becomes a guest double. An enormous nav station and a galley rated best in class define the interior, while a nearly eight-foot cockpit and broad side decks serve the exterior. Two draft versions exist—a 4 foot 7 inch shoal with centerboard and a 5 foot 7 inch deep—so confirm which keel is under the hull you view.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Most boats will already have air conditioning, inverter, bimini, dodger, cockpit shower, radar, and a chartplotter as commonly fitted gear, with a watermaker, bow thruster, freezer, hot water, dinghy davits, AIS, solar, wind generator, swim platform, and autopilot often seen. For a buyer, the power and energy cluster—inverter, solar, wind, and sometimes lithium batteries—determines whether you can live at anchor without a generator; the canvas cluster of bimini and dodger protects the enormous cockpit; and a bow thruster offsets the long-keel handling in marinas. Less common owner upgrades include a furling main, electric winches, and a life raft.
What to Inspect
The encapsulated keel ballast complete encapsulated keel ballast removes external keel bolts, but water ingress around the glass-encapsulated chainplate structures can hide crevice corrosion with no external warning and lead to mast loss; tap and probe chainplate areas for softness and smell for trapped moisture. The PolyCore deck core does not decay PolyCore technology, a modern core material that doesn't decay, yet check the gelcoat and stainless for cracks at through-decks. Confirm the electric halyard winch and all aft-led lines run smoothly, since nearly every sail function depends on them, and verify the Doyle stackpack and mast winches for furlers are intact.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats appear in the United States. Before committing, walk the checklist:
- Confirm shoal or deep draft for your cruising grounds
- Probe chainplate encapsulation for hidden corrosion
- Test electric halyard winch and aft-led sail lines
- Inspect PolyCore deck penetrations for gelcoat cracks
- Verify aft head bathtub and stall shower integrity
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Island Packet 44. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 10 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 25 | 1 | $140,000 | — |
| Jul 25 | 1 | $99,900 | -28.6% |
| Aug 25 | 3 | $149,000 | +49.1% |
| Sep 25 | 6 | $179,900 | +20.7% |
| Oct 25 | 1 | $169,000 | -6.1% |
| Nov 25 | 4 | $124,000 | -26.6% |
| Jan 26 | 2 | $79,000 | -36.3% |
| Apr 26 | 1 | $119,000 | +50.6% |
| May 26 | 1 | $145,000 | +21.8% |
| Jun 26 | 5 | $169,000 | +16.6% |
Where they're listed
Island Packet 44 listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 19.
Country view
19 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $169,000 | 19 | 5 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
10 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Island Packet 35 | 35.33' | $ 74,900 | 62 | 24 |
| Island Packet 38 | 38' | $ 99,000 | 56 | 22 |
| Island Packet 40 | 40' | $ 159,000 | 55 | 21 |
| Island Packet 370/379 | 37.83' | $ 199,500 | 55 | 8 |
| CSY 44 | 44' | $ 57,566 | 43 | 7 |
| Nauticat 44 | 43.67' | $ 154,411 | 40 | 3 |
| Morgan Yachts Morgan 44 | 44' | $ 95,000 | 23 | 0 |
| Island Packet 44You are here | — | $ 169,000 | 20 | 5 |
| Hylas 44 | 44.17' | $ 109,990 | 15 | 2 |
| Island Packet 445 | 45.75' | $ 359,000 | 15 | 0 |