Moody Yachts for Sale

John Moody started a yard at Swanwick on the Hamble in 1827 repairing fishing boats. The family built its first sailing yachts in timber in 1935, went to fiberglass in 1965, and after the 1973 oil crisis handed series production to Marine Projects at Plymouth, the company that also built Princess. That partnership ran roughly thirty years and produced 39 models and 4,233 boats, the Moody 30, 33, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44 that make up most of the used market, largely drawn by Angus Primrose and then by Bill Dixon. Moody had shown a deck saloon as early as 1969 and that idea eventually became the brand. The family sold the Swanwick yard to Premier Marinas in 2005, production stopped the following year, and HanseYachts bought the name in 2007 and has built Moodys at Greifswald in Germany ever since, in an aft cockpit AC line and a deck saloon DS line, all designed by Bill Dixon.

For an American buyer the important thing is that a Moody is a British or German boat that was mostly sold in Europe, so check the specification before the price. Older boats are commonly wired 220 volt 50 hertz with European shore power fittings, which means either a transformer and a rewire or living with a boat that will not plug in at a Florida marina, and the same goes for the water heater, the battery charger and the air conditioning if there is any. Electronics, sails and spares are British or German pattern. Confirm that US duty has been paid and that the paperwork is in order, because a boat imported privately can arrive with that unsettled. There is no support network here for the Swanwick and Plymouth boats, though HanseYachts has a US presence for the current range. The boats themselves are well thought of: heavy, dry, set up for a couple to sail, with the center cockpit models giving a proper aft cabin. Survey for the usual English boat issues, deck core around fittings, the rudder stock, the keel bolts and the original tankage.