Wilbur Yachts for Sale

Wilbur started in 1973 in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and launched its first boat in 1979: a 38 to a Ralph Ellis design. The 34 that followed four years later became the boat the yard is known for, with more than 70 built, and by 2001 Lee Wilbur had produced something over 200 hulls and sold the business to his daughter Ingrid and her husband John Kachmar. It is still at 200 Seawall Road, still a custom shop, and still small. The range runs from 31 to 61 feet, mostly Downeast cruisers and lobster yacht styled boats, with a 37 Weekender rigged for twin outboards among the more recent work, and the yard also does brokerage, repair, retrofit and winter storage.

On a Maine boat the first question is who laid up the hull, and here the answer is plain: Wilbur did, in Southwest Harbor, and these are not cold molded boats. The hulls are solid hand laid fiberglass in alternating mat and woven roving, running from about three eighths of an inch to an inch and a half thick depending on where you are in the boat, with the house and superstructure hand laid over an end grain balsa core. So there is no planking to worry about and no wood epoxy question, but there is weight, and the core in the house and side decks is where a surveyor should spend the time, along with the bedding at every fitting and the age of the systems. Every boat was built to an order, so two Wilbur 38s of the same year can differ in layout, power and joinery, and the build file matters more than the model name. The great advantage second hand is continuity: the yard that built your boat is still open, still in the same family and still doing refit work, which on a 30 year old custom boat is worth more than any warranty.