About Hampton

Hampton is the Chen family, boatbuilders in Taiwan from 1965 and now building at their own yards in Shanghai: more than two thousand hulls over that stretch. Two ranges: the Hampton pilothouse boats for coastal work, and Endurance, which is the long-range series.

The hull is the interesting part. Hampton developed a split-chine form with the naval architect Howard Apollonio, hand-laid in solid fiberglass with Kevlar where it matters, and it gives a boat that runs efficiently at trawler speeds but will still get up and go. The boats are heavily specified as standard and the layouts are unusually well thought out for the length: a 65 with three real staterooms and a proper pilothouse. Popular on the West Coast and increasingly in Florida; look at the hours and how she has been laid up between seasons.

What we know about Hampton

Hampton, and the Endurance long range cruisers in particular, are sturdy semi custom blue water boats that put high end quality at a production price. That is the whole proposition and they deliver it.

Built at Shanghai by experienced crews in solid glass with reinforced layups and Kevlar in the collision zones. The hulls are heavy, solid and quiet, and they handle rough water offshore. The composite and the woodwork happen overseas and the machinery does not: Caterpillar engines, Muir winches, familiar electrical and stabilisation, so parts and service are straightforward wherever you are.

They run like a custom yard at production scale. Layouts, interiors and equipment packages are all open to a buyer who knows how they intend to cruise or to live aboard, which is rare at this money.

The Endurance boats, the 680 and the 720, are built to be run by a couple. Visibility from the helm, wide side decks, wing stations for docking, and redundancy designed in rather than added. No full time crew required, and that decides the running cost more than anything else on the specification.

One caveat, said plainly. On older and more traditional models you will find the occasional fit and finish or system routing quirk that you would not on a European custom build. Against that, the cherry and satin joinery and the stone work are very high value for the money, and a 2022 658L Endurance has been sold through Aspire.

John Booysen, Aspire Yacht Sales.