BUYING A USED...SARGO 31 EXPLORER

Surprisingly, many used boats are offered for sale without the degree of preparation most prospective purchasers would reasonably expect.

IN BUILD: 2010

CURRENT PRICE RANGE: £200,000 - £330,000

Unpolished hulls, scruffy covers and unloved interiors are all far too common in a marketplace where the asking price is often in the hundreds of thousands of pounds. But not so in the case of the Sargo 31 Explorer featured here, a 2020 model with just 80 hours on the clock, being offered by Sargo Boats UK’s sister company, Marco Marine based in Hamble Point. From its Copper coated hull, polished prop, freshly antifouled outdrive and stern thrusters to its gleaming anthracite-coloured hull and an interior featuring, among other things, a dining table you would happily eat your dinner off without plates, this boat is in tip-top condition throughout, which is as it should be given its £300,000 (VAT paid) price tag.

MBY has featured a run of used boats from the Nordic region this year (Nimbus and Grandezza being two other recent examples), and this month the spotlight falls on another quality product from Europe’s northernmost outpost. In the case of Sargo, home is the Finnish town of Kokkola. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Bothnia around 500 kilometres north of Helsinki, this is where carpenter Edy Sarin began building boats back in 1967.

Today, run by Edy’s three sons and a daughter, Sarins Båtar offers a range of 11 boats including five Sargo Explorers with lengths of 28, 31, 33, 36 and 45ft.