Santana 525 Buyer's Guide
The Santana 525 is a 24.58 ft American racer-cruiser built by W. D. Schock Corp between 1977 and 1982, with 261 completed before the design went out of production. Drawn by W. Shad Turner as a one-design and International Offshore Rule Quarter Ton class boat, it remains a club-supported used-market proposition rather than a generic trailer-sailer, and shoppers should approach it as a fractional sloop with racing DNA and a compact cruising interior.
Layouts on the Used Market
Every 525 shares the same core accommodation: sleeping for four, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin and two straight settee berths in the main cabin. The head is located in the bow cabin, centered under the V-berth, and the galley is located on both sides of the companionway ladder. Because the design was built as a one-design, used examples should not vary in hull or keel configuration — a fixed fin keel drawing 4.25 ft and an internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a tiller are constant, so layout differences between boats will be limited to upholstery, awlgrip, and owner-fitted gear rather than structural variants.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
The 525 is normally fitted with a small outboard motor for docking and maneuvering, and the rig may be equipped with one of a number of jibs and genoas plus a symmetrical spinnaker of 209 sq ft for downwind sailing. The fractional Bermuda sloop carries a 145.00 sq ft mainsail and 115.94 sq ft jib/genoa on a total sail area of 260.94 sq ft. Typical used-market examples in the United States lean on these as-built specs; no item is recorded as commonly fitted beyond the standard rig and outboard, and owner upgrades tend toward spinnaker gear and sail inventory rather than factory-option packages.
What to Inspect
The documented record shows no structural or flooding defects for the 525, but two load-bearing facts warrant a close look. The hull is made of fiberglass with wood trim, so the wood trim is the only non-fiberglass exterior element exposed to weather. Additionally, the draft is about 1.30 to 1.40 meters dependent on the load, meaning a used boat's keel and rudder should be judged with its as-found loading in mind rather than a fixed 4.25 ft figure alone.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The typical market for used Santana 525s is the United States, where the design's 261-boat production and active class club make it a findable but not mass-market one-design. The largest fleet is in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, useful for class context.
- Confirm the wood trim condition at stem, transom, and interior joinery
- Verify loaded draft variation when inspecting keel and rudder
- Check outboard mount and tiller-rudder linkage on the spade rudder
- Match sails to the fractional rig and 260.94 sq ft total area before purchase
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Santana 525. 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. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 25 | 1 | $ 2,800 | — |