Solace Yachts for Sale

Solace is a young company with a long pedigree behind it. Bob Dougherty was chief engineer and a senior vice president at Boston Whaler and is credited with much of what made those hulls unsinkable; his son Stephen grew up on the Whaler line after it moved to Edgewater, Florida in 1982, then founded EdgeWater Powerboats with him in 1992 and Everglades Boats in 2002. Stephen left Everglades in 2012, set up Dougherty Manufacturing in 2014 and launched Solace from that established factory in 2017. Everything happens on one 200,000 square foot campus at Edgewater: plugs, tooling, components and boats.

The boats are expensive, and the construction is the reason. Hulls are infused epoxy using Innegra and carbon fiber rather than conventional polyester and glass, on twin stepped variable deadrise bottoms, which is why a Solace is lighter and faster on the same engines than most of its rivals and why the ride is what buyers talk about. The range runs from the high 20s to the low 40s in feet, mostly center consoles with a catamaran and a pilothouse model at the top. On the used market they hold value strongly and turn over quickly, and since the oldest boats are only from the last few years you are usually buying a boat with warranty history, dealer records and a live factory behind it. That also means there is no bargain end of the market yet: price the engines and electronics, and be skeptical of a cheap one until you know why.