Southerly 49 Buyer's Guide
Shopping a Southerly 49 on the brokerage market means looking at a Humphreys-designed 49ft 7in bluewater cruiser built around a swing-keel shallow-draft concept and a high cruising specification. These are boats originally intended for continuous long-distance sailing, and the used fleet reflects both private and ex-charter histories with the same core layout logic.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin layouts are the more common on the used market, but both are available; ex-charter examples are common. The standard arrangement places a forward owner’s stateroom with island double berth and ensuite head forward, twin double staterooms under the cockpit aft, and a raised saloon with wraparound dinette settees that can take two sleepers — a layout that lets the boat sleep as many as six in a seaway. The galley sits low to starboard in a narrow trench along the keel box, a quirk unchanged across the used fleet.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
Used examples commonly come fitted with life raft, chartplotter, AIS, radar, electric winches, bow thruster, furling main, self-tacking jib, inverter, solar, gennaker, wind generator, lithium batteries, washing machine, bimini, swim platform, teak decks, cockpit shower, heating, autopilot, air conditioning, Starlink, and watermaker. The boat comes standard with Seldén spars, Lewmar hardware, a 100 percent self-tacking jib, and a removable bowsprit for an asymmetric spinnaker or gennaker; an EPIRB is a less common, sometimes-seen owner upgrade rather than a standard or commonly fitted item.
What to Inspect
Documented inspection points center on the swing-keel system and the galley compromise. The cast-iron swing keel weighs 4,519lb, pivots on a stainless steel pin, and is controlled by a hydraulic ram powered by an electric pump with a manual back-up and a keel-control display; verify the hydraulic ram and pump function and the manual override is intact. The hand-laid hull is solid below the waterline and foam-cored above with the keel box integral, bulkheads fully bonded, and a Plexus-bonded deck joint on a generous flange — check for bond or joint separation. The digital distributed-power electrical system simplifies wiring but should be diagnosed for faults. Note the galley’s narrow trench requires the cook be displaced for forward-cabin access, a design fact rather than a defect.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Typical markets for the Southerly 49 are Malaysia, United Kingdom, Australia, and United States. For a buyer, the checklist is short and source-based: confirm keel hydraulics and manual backup, inspect hull-to-keel-box and deck joint bonding, verify the distributed-power system diagnostics, and accept the galley-passage trade-off. Choose a three-cabin owner layout or ex-charter example per preference, and treat EPIRB as a possible owner upgrade rather than standard.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Southerly 49. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 7 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 25 | 1 | $ 499,000 | — |
| Sep 25 | 2 | $ 374,500 | -24.9% |
| Dec 25 | 2 | $ 375,000 | +0.1% |
| Jan 26 | 2 | $ 390,000 | +4.0% |
| Feb 26 | 1 | $ 451,504 | +15.8% |
| Mar 26 | 1 | $ 489,291 | +8.4% |
| Apr 26 | 3 | $ 451,504 | -7.7% |
Where they're listed
Southerly 49 listings appear across 4 countries. Malaysia has the most listings with 5 (45.5%), followed by United Kingdom and Australia.
Country view
11 listings · 4 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | $ 390,000 | 5 | 0 | 45.5% |
| United Kingdom | $ 451,504 | 4 | 1 | 36.4% |
| Australia | $ 489,291 | 1 | 0 | 9.1% |
| United States | $ 250,000 | 1 | 0 | 9.1% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
11 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Sun Odyssey 49 | 49.16' | $ 170,500 | 102 | 20 |
| Hallberg-Rassy 49 | 49.08' | $ 251,745 | 35 | 11 |
| Hunter 49 | 49.92' | $ 214,000 | 31 | 6 |
| Southerly 420 | 42.19' | $ 499,486 | 16 | 3 |
| Oyster Yachts 49 | 51.83' | $ 377,618 | 13 | 1 |
| Southerly 49You are here | — | $ 451,557 | 11 | 1 |
| Southerly 57 RS | 58.14' | $ 849,000 | 9 | 5 |
| Atlantic 49 | 49' | $ 56,597 | 8 | 3 |
| Southerly 135 Mk II | 44' | $ 289,805 | 6 | 2 |
| Hinckley Sou'wester 42/43 | 42.75' | $ 225,000 | 5 | 1 |
| Southerly 480 | 49.15' | $ 1,145,742 | 3 | 0 |