Midget 26 Sailboats for Sale

Layouts on the Used Market

Owner three-cabin arrangements are the more common layout seen for sale, though both configurations are out there, and ex-charter boats are a common sight. The interior gives a separate aft cabin, a forward settee that converts to a near-square 1.90 by 1.90 metre berth, a spacious galley, and a navigation table. Be aware the aft berth is tight — only 60 centimetre access and 44 centimetres of headroom at the inboard side — and the boat is realistically sized for people no taller than 1.80 metres. Headroom steps from 1.85 metres at the companionway to 1.60 metres forward.

Equipment and Common Upgrades

Most boats on the market carry a chartplotter, cabin heating, solar, a gennaker, autopilot, and a short-handed sail-handling setup as standard fittings. Often-seen additions include an inverter, spinnaker, bow thruster, hot water, bimini, and teak decks. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are power and energy — solar with an inverter supports anchoring without shore power — and sail handling — a gennaker or spinnaker with short-handed rigging extends light-air range that the standard 23-square-metre rig lacks. A bow thruster helps around marinas given the long keel, and heating matters for Dutch-season cruising.

What to Inspect

The yard seals windows with silicone as a long-term measure, but paint will not adhere to any surface the sealant has touched anchor, so check for botched repaints near openings. Self-build hulls can show less meticulous interior finish than factory boats, and the polyester water tank is laminated in with no inspection hatch while the stainless diesel tank, though removable, also lacks one. Engines from the 1980s are reaching end of service life, and replacement space is constrained, so confirm engine bay dimensions before committing. The hull and deck are fused by lamination into a unified structure, and custom deck hardware should be checked for prior modification.

Availability and Buyer's Takeaway

The typical market is the Netherlands. For a buyer, the practical checklist is: confirm whether the hull is a yard or self-build and judge interior finish accordingly; verify engine age and replacement clearance; inspect silicone-sealed window surrounds for paint rejection; and accept the aft-cabin limits if crew are over 1.80 metres. With secured spare-parts supply from the yard, a sound example is a low-air-draft, genuinely seaworthy small cruiser.