Nomad 17 Buyer's Guide
The Vanguard Nomad is a 17-foot performance daysailer built by Vanguard Sailboats and designed by Bob Ames, intended to bridge casual family sailing and livelier skiff-style handling. On the used market it presents as a lightweight, easily trailerable centerboard boat rather than a fleet racer, and buyers should approach it as a day-use trailer-sailer with a modern rig and a surprisingly roomy cockpit for its length.
Layouts on the Used Market
The Nomad is a monohull daysailer with a retractable centerboard and kick-up rudder, making it straightforward to trailer and store anchor. Its cockpit is broad and uncluttered with comfortable seating for four adults or two adults and children, and the boat carries up to six people. Four large cockpit lockers and two forward watertight compartments give used buyers useful stowage and a degree of sealed buoyancy forward, worth confirming intact on any specific hull anchor.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Commonly fitted equipment on brokerage boats includes a spinnaker and the asymmetric variant, plus a short-handed setup suited to single-person rigging anchor. The standard sail inventory is North 3DL molded sails derived from the builder's big-boat racing line, and a galvanized trailer comes standard, so most used boats arrive ready to move anchor. The rig itself uses an aluminum Proctor mast and boom with Harken deck hardware, and the jib is on a roller furler; there are no trapeze wires or hiking straps, which keeps the boat in the family-daysailer lane rather than the athletic skiff class anchor.
What to Inspect
The Nomad is not legal for PHRF racing in most areas, so a buyer chasing handicap racing should look elsewhere anchor. Otherwise, verify the watertight integrity of the two forward compartments and the condition of the cored hull and deck, since the light 550-pound hull weight is achieved through coring that must be sound to preserve the boat's structure and stiffness anchor. Confirm the centerboard and kick-up rudder operate cleanly, as these define the trailering convenience the design promises.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Typical availability is in the United States. For a shopper, the Nomad is a low-fuss trailerable daysailer with one-person rigging, a high-tech standard sail set, and a stable beamy hull. Check the watertight forward compartments, confirm the cored hull and deck are undamaged, verify the centerboard and rudder function, and accept that the boat is a daysailer rather than a PHRF or one-design racer.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Nomad 17. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 1 row
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26 | 1 | $5,900 | — |
Where they're listed
Nomad 17 listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 1.
Country view
1 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $5,900 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |