1 Sunbeam Sailing Yacht for Sale
Browse our 1 Sunbeam sailing yacht listing and learn more about Sunbeam, the company that built them
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Sunbeam Buyer's Guides
(1 guide)Updated 9 October 2026 · By Hulls.io Editorial
About Sunbeam
Sunbeam Yachts is an Austrian builder of sailing yachts, and the name on its boats is not the name of the family behind them. The yard belongs to the Schöchl family. Its own website says it was long known as the Schöchl shipyard, and for most of its history it worked on the shore of the Mattsee, a lake in the Austrian province of Salzburg. Several sources date the family business further back than its boats. Sunbeam says the Schöchl family founded a carpentry business in Mattsee in 1838, and that the era of boatbuilding began in 1950. The German sailing magazine YACHT describes the yard as having emerged in 1950 from that joinery. The yard's timeline records the start of series production of keelboats in 1965 and the rebuilding of the yard in 1975, on a site of 4,000 square metres.
The family history matters if you are trying to place a particular Sunbeam in context. According to the yard's timeline, Manfred and Gerhard Schöchl took over the yard together in 1995. YACHT, which describes them as cousins, gives the date of the handover as 1990. The timeline records Gerhard Schöchl leaving the yard in 2019. In February 2021, Andreas Schöchl, Manfred's son, confirmed to the sailing magazine No Frills Sailing that Gerhard had left the company. He said that he and his father would carry on, and that the Sunbeam brand would be managed by a newly founded company, Sunbeam Watersports GmbH. The yard's timeline dates that change to 2020, when Andreas took over as the third generation of the family to run the yard. Sunbeam Watersports GmbH is the company that now publishes the Sunbeam website and that the Red Dot design awards list as the manufacturer of the Sunbeam 32.1.
For buyers, the yard's reputation rests on build quality. In its 2019 awards report, YACHT wrote that Sunbeam had been synonymous with high-quality, extremely solid boatbuilding for decades. The yard has won the European Yacht of the Year award twice. Yachting World reported the Sunbeam 46.1 as the winner of the Luxury Cruisers category in 2019, and its reviewer, Toby Hodges, called it the best Sunbeam he had seen to date. YACHT, whose editor-in-chief chaired the jury in 2019, also lists a European Yacht of the Year title for the Sunbeam 34.1 in 2008. The yard's own timeline lists nominations for several other models, from the Sunbeam 26 in 2002 to the 32.1.
The Sunbeam 32.1 marked a change of direction. Sunbeam says that its yachts had always been developed step by step from their predecessors, and that the 32.1 was the first time it had worked with an outside industrial designer: Gerald Kiska of the Salzburg studio KISKA. KISKA worked alongside J&J Design, the Slovenian naval architects that Sunbeam calls its long-term partner. YACHT quotes J&J's Jernej Jakopin as having designed the other Sunbeam types in the range. The 32.1, with its negative bow and open-plan interior, won a Red Dot "Best of the Best" award in 2022. YACHT's test of the 32.1 also reported that, unlike in the past, the yard now used specialist suppliers: the 32.1's hulls came from Poland, while the first and final stages of the work were done in Mattsee.
Today Sunbeam's website lists four models, the 22.1, 29.1, 29.1 GT and 32.1. The 29.1 is also offered with a swing keel for shallow water. In August 2026 Sunbeam announced that its new yard in Munderfing, in Upper Austria, had become its only production site, replacing Mattsee. Older Sunbeams, including the 46.1 and other models no longer in the range, come up on the used market. When you compare listings, check the model number, the year and whether a boat was built before or after the 2020 change of company.
1 Sunbeam Sailing Yacht For Sale
Sunbeam Listings
Frequently Asked Questions About Sunbeam
Who builds Sunbeam yachts?
Sunbeam yachts are built by the Schöchl family's yard in Austria, which its own website says was long known as the Schöchl shipyard. Since 2020 the brand has been run by Sunbeam Watersports GmbH, the company founded by Andreas Schöchl when he took over as the third generation of the family to run the yard. The Red Dot design awards list Sunbeam Watersports GmbH as the manufacturer of the Sunbeam 32.1.
Where are Sunbeam yachts built?
For most of its history the yard was on the Mattsee, a lake in the Austrian province of Salzburg. YACHT's test of the 32.1 reported that its hulls came from Poland, with the first and final stages of the work done in Mattsee. In August 2026 Sunbeam announced that its new yard in Munderfing, in Upper Austria, had become its only production site.
How old is Sunbeam Yachts?
Sunbeam says the Schöchl family founded a carpentry business in Mattsee in 1838, and that its boatbuilding began in 1950. YACHT likewise describes the yard as having emerged in 1950 from a joinery founded by the family in 1838. According to the yard's timeline, series production of keelboats began in 1965.
Has Sunbeam won European Yacht of the Year?
Yes, twice. The Sunbeam 46.1 won the Luxury Cruisers category of the European Yacht of the Year awards in 2019, as reported by YACHT and Yachting World. YACHT, whose editor-in-chief chaired the jury in 2019, also lists a European Yacht of the Year title for the Sunbeam 34.1 in 2008. In 2022 the Sunbeam 32.1 won a Red Dot "Best of the Best" award for product design.