Liberty 49 Buyer's Guide
Shopping for a used Liberty 49 on the brokerage market means chasing a rare Taiwanese cutter — only a few were built from the mid eighties, and most available boats trace to Shin Fa or one of the other yards that produced the class. She is a 53-foot cutter with a standard aft-cabin layout, a tub in the aft head, and a forward den or guest space, and the buyer is dealing with a 38,000-pound hull that draws about 6.3 to 6.6 feet loaded.
Layouts on the Used Market
The standard floor plan places the owner's cabin aft with an en-suite head and tub, while the forward end carries a den or guest room — but the interior was offered in several configurations, so a buyer should confirm which bulkheads and berths a specific hull actually received. Teak is everywhere: vertical staving on bulkheads, horizontal ceiling battens, and a teak and holly sole under five coats of hand-rubbed varnish. The galley is forward-leaning with marble counters, a stainless stove bay, and a large dual-access refrigerator-freezer wrapped in four-inch foam.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
A well-found Liberty 49 on the market will commonly carry a bimini and dodger, dinghy davits, solar, a watermaker, a gennaker, hot water, radar, autopilot, and a chartplotter — the sort of cruising kit that makes her livable without immediate owner investment. For power and water, the watermaker and solar matter most on a boat whose original plant was two 110 amp-hour batteries and a 70 amp alternator; the hot water and pressure system are factory-standard but worth verifying. For canvas and sail handling, davits plus a gennaker broaden her range beyond the cutter's working sails. Navigation is handled by the radar and chartplotter paired with the autopilot, which together reduce the workload on a heavy hull.
What to Inspect
The teak decks were originally bedded in Thaikol with steel screws, and on a used hull those screws corrode while the bedding cracks, letting water into the balsa-cored deck. Walk the housetop and press firmly around every screw line and window frame; softness or a dull thud underfoot signals core saturation. Look for rust streaks from the fasteners and dark staining at the cabin trunk edges. Any spongy area means a recore, so budget accordingly before committing.
Separately, the black iron fuel tanks are a factory item and should be checked for internal scaling or weeping at the seams; smell the engine bay for diesel and inspect the Raycor bowl for water. The bronze thru-hulls are bonded to the ship's system, so test the bonding continuity and confirm the bronze self-draining ports and dorade ventilators are free of corrosion that could break the circuit.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
These boats are found in the United States. Before you sign:
- Press the teak deck and housetop for soft core
- Trace rust streaks from deck screws to their source
- Verify black iron tank condition and bonding continuity
- Confirm the aft cabin tub and forward layout match your needs
- Test the hydraulic steering and emergency tiller
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Liberty 49. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 2 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 26 | 2 | $234,000 | — |
| Apr 26 | 1 | $234,000 | 0.0% |
Where they're listed
Liberty 49 listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 3.
Country view
3 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $234,000 | 3 | 0 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
7 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hylas 49 | 48.88' | $ 419,000 | 38 | 6 |
| Taswell 49 | 48.83' | $ 175,000 | 31 | 3 |
| Tayana 48 | 48' | $ 330,000 | 29 | 5 |
| Formosa 47 | 46.42' | $ 110,802 | 14 | 7 |
| Oyster Yachts 49 | 51.83' | $ 384,176 | 12 | 0 |
| Atlantic 49 | 49' | $ 58,264 | 7 | 3 |
| Liberty 49You are here | — | $ 234,000 | 3 | 0 |