Mercury 18 Sailboats for Sale

Hull Type

Monohull · fin

Rig

Masthead Sloop

LOA

18' · 5.49 m

Disp.

1,100 lbs · 499 kg

First year

1939

Introduced to the public at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, the Mercury 18 represents a historic milestone in American smallboat design. Commissioned as a fast, accessible, and rugged day racer capable of mastering the famously punishing summer winds and steep chop of San Francisco Bay, the boat was designed by Ernest Nunes of Sausalito’s Nunes Brothers Boat Works. At a time when small performance boats relied on traditional, laborintensive plank construction, the Mercury 18 pioneered the use of waterproof marine plywood. This choice dramatically reduced hull weight, simplified assembly, and brought competitive racing to everyday sailors during the tail end of the Great Depression. It is vital to distinguish this West Coast classic from the smaller, unrelated 15foot Cape Cod Mercury designed by Sparkman & Stephens in 1940. Backed by the Mercury Class Yacht Racing Association (MCYRA)—established in 1945—the class has maintained a highly competitive, familyoriented racing footprint along the Pacific Coast for over eight decades.