Express cruisers
Express cruisers for sale
One level, one helm, a cabin underneath — the most usable weekend boat there is, and the easiest step up from a bowrider.
An express cruiser puts the helm and the whole social space on one level in the cockpit, with a cabin — berth, head, usually a small galley — tucked under the foredeck. No flybridge, which keeps the centre of gravity low, the air draft short and the boat a great deal easier to handle than its length suggests.
It is the type that does the most with the least. A 30-something-foot express will take six people out for the day in comfort, sleep two of them overnight in Cuttyhunk or Block Island, and still fit a slip and a budget that a flybridge boat of the same length would not. Modern ones are increasingly outboard-powered, which has made the maintenance story a lot simpler.
The trade is shade and shelter: you are living under a canvas or a hardtop rather than inside a deckhouse, so a cold, wet day is a short day. For the summer weekends this is mostly used for, that is a trade most owners are happy with.
Who it suits
- Weekends and overnights rather than long passages.
- Entertaining — the cockpit is the boat.
- Owners stepping up from a bowrider who want a berth and a head.
- Tight slips and low bridges, where a flybridge is a problem.
Where we work
Where they run
Short hops between harbours is exactly what this type is for, and the Islands, Newport and the Palm Beach waterways are full of them.
Builders
The yards we know in this class
The express and sport cruiser builders Guard Yacht Group knows and works with, from classic inboard boats to the current generation of outboard-powered dayboats.
Common questions
What people ask before they buy
- What is an express cruiser?
- An express cruiser is a cruising powerboat with the helm in the cockpit rather than on a flybridge, and a cabin below the foredeck with a berth and a head. Everything happens on one level, which makes the boat lower, lighter and easier to handle than a flybridge boat of the same length — at the cost of the extra accommodation and the raised helm view.
- Is an express cruiser a good first overnight boat?
- It is the usual and the sensible answer. You get a head, a berth and somewhere to get out of the sun without taking on the dockage, draft and running costs of a flybridge boat, and the handling is close enough to a big runabout that the step up is manageable. Most owners who go this route keep the boat for years.
- Outboard or inboard on an express cruiser?
- Outboards have taken over the smaller end for good reasons: more cockpit space, simpler and cheaper service, better resale at the moment, and no running gear under the boat. Inboards still give a quieter, better-balanced ride at cruise and tend to suit the larger and more traditional boats. It is worth deciding this early, because it splits the shortlist in two.