RJ 85 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the used RJ 85 market means looking at a 28-foot Swedish fractional sloop designed by Rolf Jacobssen and built by Tollare Bruk, with several hundred hulls produced. The catch for any buyer is that this model was not solely a factory boat: Tollare Bruk built it, but other yards turned them out too, and a portion were sold to be home-completed. That history makes the individual hull, not the model average, the thing you are actually buying.
Layouts on the Used Market
The practical move is to treat every RJ 85 as a one-off evaluation. The constant is the 28-foot-1-inch length overall, 6-foot-9-inch beam, and long-keel underwater profile with 4.13 to 4.43 feet of draft by load. What varies is how the interior and deck were finished, because home-completed boats may differ sharply from yard-built examples in joinerwork, fitting bedding, and laminate care.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Focus on the rigging the design actually carries. The RJ 85 runs a fractional rig with three 24.3-meter, 8 mm halyards and 10 mm sheets up to a 21.4-meter mainsheet, so a buyer should confirm the running rigging is intact or budget a full re-rig. A 135 percent genoa is the light-air upgrade, lifting sail-area-to-displacement from 14.4 to 16.6, and that genoa-and-sheet package is the one sailing upgrade worth verifying on a used boat.
What to Inspect
The defining check on an RJ 85 is provenance. Because the boat was sold to be home-completed and also built at yards beyond Tollare Bruk, the quality of each boat may vary, so establish who finished the hull you are viewing and how. On home-completed examples, look hard at the keel-to-hull joint and deck fitting bedding for signs of inconsistent laminate or poor sealing. Confirm the lead long keel is sound and the solid fiberglass hull and deck show no atypical repair, since a non-factory build may not match yard standards.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Before you commit, walk through this short list:
- Establish whether the hull was yard- or home-built
- Inspect keel-to-hull joint and deck bedding closely
- Verify all halyards and sheets against known lengths
- Confirm lead keel integrity and solid-glass condition
- Check for a 135 percent genoa and its sheets
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the RJ 85. 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. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26 | 1 | $11,652 | — |
| May 26 | 1 | $6,409 | -45.0% |
Where they're listed
RJ 85 listings appear across 1 country. Germany has the most listings with 2.
Country view
2 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | $9,030 | 2 | 0 | 100.0% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
4 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter 28.5 | 28.42' | $ 12,800 | 25 | 9 |
| Maxi 84 | 28.02' | $ 12,913 | 21 | 8 |
| S2 8.5 | 28' | $ 12,000 | 13 | 7 |
| RJ 85You are here | — | $ 9,030 | 2 | 0 |