Trapper TS240 Buyer's Guide
The Trapper TS240 is a 1980 Ed Dubois design built by Trapper Yachts Ltd as a lifting-keel trailer-sailer developed from the Starflash Quarter Ton cruiser-racer moulds. On the used market she appeals to sailors who want one boat that races in a club series and trails home behind a car, with a keel that retracts to about 1.35 feet and extends to roughly 5.5 feet so the same hull can dry out, launch, or stand in a marina. Buyers are looking at a solid-fiberglass 25-footer with a fractional rig and a lead-ballasted lifting keel.
Layouts on the Used Market
Every TS240 shares the same lifting-keel pocket-cruiser layout: a 25-foot-2-inch hull on a 19-foot-6-inch waterline, a 9-foot-2-inch beam, and a drop keel that sets the loaded draft around 5.5 feet. The solid fiberglass deck and hull, with 1,196 pounds of lead ballast in a 46 percent ratio against 2,600 pounds displacement, define the structure you are inspecting; there is no separate cruiser or racer interior layout to choose between, only the standard coastal-cruiser volume that the quarter-ton derivative provides.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
The period rigging spec is worth checking against any boat you view because the original control lengths are specific: the mainsail, jib-genoa, and spinnaker halyards were all 21.5 meters of 8 mm line, while the mainsheet runs 19.2 meters and the genoa and jib sheets are 7.7 meters, the latter two at 10 mm diameter. For a buyer, that means worn halyards or a mismatched mainsheet are easy to spot against the original, and a boat still carrying 8 mm halyards and a 10 mm mainsheet of those lengths has likely been maintained to plan rather than improvised.
What to Inspect
Confirm the drop keel operates smoothly through its full travel and that the original halyard and sheet lengths and diameters are present or have been replaced to spec, since those are the only measured equipment facts the record provides.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The TS240 is a boat to find by watching brokerage listings rather than targeting a specific coast. For a buyer, the short checklist is: verify the lifting keel function, check the solid fiberglass hull and deck for honest repair history, confirm the fractional rig and original control lengths, and judge the boat as a coastal cruiser and club racer rather than a volume cruiser.
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Trapper TS240. 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. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 25 | 1 | $3,384 | — |
| Mar 26 | 1 | $2,029 | -40.0% |
Where they're listed
Trapper TS240 listings appear across 1 country. United Kingdom has the most listings with 2.
Country view
2 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $2,707 | 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
2 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Marine 240 | 24.08' | $ 9,400 | 25 | 10 |
| Trapper TS240You are here | — | $ 2,707 | 2 | 0 |