Best British-built cruisers around 30ft

Arguably the ideal size for coastal and occasional offshore sailing

- Peter K Poland

Cruisers of around 30ft can often become a 'boat for life'. Having graduated from dinghies to small cruisers, many sailors decide that something around 30ft will give them enough space, headroom, comfort and seagoing ability to see out their sailing days. Sometimes a crew of young children may push them into something bigger for a while, but many sailors find that around 30ft is an ideal size for coastal and occasional offshore sailing.

Budget is also usually an important factor. Some GRP cruisers around 30ft date back to the 1960s. But times change and precious few new models of this size are being built today. So if you want a 30-footer you'll probably end up with a second-hand yacht and can be looking at age differences of up to 60 years; with correspondingly different prices. Some sailors relish the process of renovating an older yacht, while others want one that is in good condition and raring to go.

When you start looking for a good second-hand cruiser around 30ft, the choices are wide and varied. There are so many options that it's easy to become confused. Not only were a lot of different models built, the variations between types, styles and levels of performance became more defined around the 30ft mark.

Focusing the search

As time passed three different types evolved: middle-of-the-road family cruisers (fin, twin and lifting keel); older style long-keeled cruisers; and lighter cruiser-racers (often IOR-influenced after the late 1970s).

So it becomes ever more important to have a clear idea of what size and type of cruiser you want. As we often said to clients who were considering buying one of our Hunters, you need to answer some basic questions before deciding on your ideal yacht: what sort of sailing are you planning?; where?; with whom?; and how often? We reckoned that many people ended up by buying bigger boats than they actually needed.