Sunbeam 321 Buyer’s Guide
There are no Sunbeam 321 listings on Hulls.io at the moment. Browse the 321 market data below or check back as new listings are added regularly.
Related models
Updated 9 October 2026 · By Hulls.io Editorial
The Sunbeam 32.1: A Complete Guide
The Sunbeam 32.1 is a 10-metre sailing yacht from Sunbeam, the Austrian yard long known as the Schöchl shipyard. It was a deliberate break with the yard’s past. Sunbeam says that its earlier yachts had always been developed from their predecessors, while the 32.1 was designed from scratch for a target group it had defined. For the first time, it brought in an outside industrial designer, Gerald Kiska, alongside its long-standing naval architects, J&J Design of Slovenia.
The result is unmistakable. The bow rakes sharply backwards below a deck that is wider than the hull beneath it, which Sunbeam calls the “flight deck” and which doubles as a bowsprit. Sunbeam describes the boat as a weekender rather than a cruiser, built for day sailing and short stays on board. Yachting Monthly called it a Marmite boat: you will either love the look or hate it. The design won a Red Dot “Best of the Best” award in 2022, and YACHT reports that the 32.1 was nominated for European Yacht of the Year 2022 in the special yachts category.
Sunbeam’s own timeline dates the launch of the 32.1 to 2020, the year Andreas Schöchl took over the yard. In February 2021, when the first renderings had just been published, the sailing magazine No Frills Sailing referred to it as the Sunbeam 32i, and sailboatdata gives 2021 as the year it was first built. YACHT published its first test of the boat in 2021. It should not be confused with the smaller Sunbeam 29.1 and 29.1 GT, which are also in the current range.
Hulls.io currently tracks 0 active listings for the Sunbeam 32.1.
Sunbeam 32.1 Specifications
Dimensions, displacement, ballast ratio, the mainsail and maximum sail areas, and the keel options are from Sunbeam’s own specification, which notes that the figures may change when optional equipment is fitted. Yachting Monthly gives the hull length as 9.85 m, slightly shorter than Sunbeam’s 9.90 m; the table uses the builder’s figure. The upwind sail area, water tank, engine options and design category are from Yachting Monthly’s test, published in May 2024, and YACHT also quotes the 56 m² upwind sail area. The fuel tank is given as 80 litres by Yachting Monthly but 60 litres by YACHT and sailboatdata.
| Length overall | 9.98 m (32 ft 9 in) |
|---|---|
| Hull length | 9.90 m (32 ft 6 in) |
| Waterline length | 8.85 m (29 ft 0 in) |
| Beam | 2.98 m (9 ft 9 in) |
| Draught | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) deep keel; 1.30 m (4 ft 3 in) short keel or twin bilge keels |
| Displacement | 4,150 kg (9,149 lb) |
| Ballast ratio | 30% |
| Sail area upwind (main and jib) | 56 m² (603 sq ft), as tested by Yachting Monthly and YACHT |
| Mainsail (standard battened) | 36 m² (388 sq ft) |
| Maximum sail area (builder) | 60 m² (646 sq ft), with high-tech battened sails |
| Propulsion | 8 kW electric pod drive, or a diesel engine with saildrive (27 hp Volvo Penta or a smaller 18 hp) |
| Fuel / water | Fuel 60 litres (YACHT, sailboatdata) or 80 litres (Yachting Monthly); water 80 litres |
| Steering | Twin wheels, twin rudders |
| RCD design category | B |
| Naval architecture | J&J Design (Slovenia) |
| Design | KISKA (Gerald Kiska), Austria |
| Builder | Sunbeam Watersports GmbH (SUNBEAM Yachts), Austria |
Design and Layout
Who designed it
Two firms shared the work. KISKA, the Salzburg design studio run by Gerald Kiska, created the look of the boat, and the Red Dot jury lists KISKA as its designer. J&J Design, the Slovenian studio that Sunbeam calls its long-term naval architects, was responsible for the naval architecture. In 2021, Andreas Schöchl told No Frills Sailing that the hull design had come from KISKA, with J&J taking on the naval architecture and the construction of the boat. Yachting Monthly credits the design to “J&J / Kiska”, and YACHT quotes J&J’s Jernej Jakopin on the hull’s stability and its twin rudders.
On deck
The deck is laid out for the whole crew rather than just the helmsman. There is a single-level cockpit with twin wheels, and the bathing platform extends and retracts electrically. Sunbeam says that, when extended, it creates a sun deck of about 4 m² behind the wheels, with no steps or edges. Yachting Monthly describes a flush deck reaching 2 m aft of the wheels, and found that the cockpit benches seat six. On the foredeck, the flight deck and the moulded “X-Brace” over the coachroof, which covers the halyards, make a second lounging area. On Yachting Monthly’s test boat the sail controls were handled from winches just forward of the wheels, with no lines led to the companionway.
Below decks
The interior is open-plan. Apart from the heads compartment to starboard, which has a shower, there are no bulkheads or doors. Forward is a U-shaped saloon lit by the long hull windows, and the seating converts to a berth. There is a simple galley with an induction hob. Because the engine sits right aft, outside the living space, the main double berth runs across the boat beneath the companionway. Sunbeam says it decided against tropical hardwoods, teak included, and uses a material called Resysta instead.
Rig, Keels and Performance
The rig has no backstay. YACHT reports double spreaders swept aft by about 26 degrees, and Yachting Monthly’s test boat had a standard self-tacking jib from Doyle. There are three keel options: a deep keel drawing 1.80 m, a short keel drawing 1.30 m, and a twin bilge-keel version, also drawing 1.30 m, which can dry out in tidal waters. Yachting Monthly notes that it uses its reinforced rudders as a pair of hind legs.
Neither magazine found it a racer, and that was never the aim. Testing on the Solent in 10 to 21 knots of wind, Yachting Monthly sailed at 30 to 34 degrees to the apparent wind at about 5.7 knots, and nudged over 9 knots with a Code Zero. It praised the boat’s balance and grip, but found the steering lacked feel. YACHT, testing on Lake Mattsee, found that the boat built pressure in as little as 4 knots of wind. It rated the boat a moderate performance cruiser by its sail-load measure.
There are electric and diesel engine options, and the engine sits far aft. Yachting Monthly reported in 2024 that an 8 kW electric pod drive comes as standard, with 8.2 kWh of lithium batteries, which can be doubled to 16.4 kWh. It gave a range of 1.5 to 2 hours at 4.5 knots. Its test boat had a 27 hp Volvo Penta diesel with saildrive, which reached 6.4 knots at 2,300 rpm. YACHT’s test, first published in 2021 and updated in 2024, however listed the 8 kW Aquamot electric drive as an extra-cost option, so check which drive any particular boat has.
Construction
According to Yachting Monthly, the hull is hand-laid in polyester, solid below the waterline and foam-cored above, with a bonded structural grid of stringers that takes the keel and rig loads. YACHT’s test reported that the 32.1’s hulls come from Poland, and that the first and final stages of the work took place in Mattsee, where the boats were designed and completed. In August 2026, Sunbeam announced that its new yard in Munderfing, Austria, had become its only production site.
How It Compares
Few boats are designed in quite the same way. In its test, YACHT suggested two alternatives. The first was the Dufour 32, a series-built boat that also puts the emphasis on fun and versatility. The second was the J/99, a French-built cruiser-racer with strong sailing performance and similarly minimal equipment. Within Sunbeam’s own range, the 29.1 offers the same weekender concept in a smaller size.
Buying a Sunbeam 32.1
The 32.1 is a recent design, so the main differences between boats come from how they were specified.
What to check
- Which keel is fitted: the 1.80 m deep keel, the 1.30 m short keel or the 1.30 m twin bilge keels.
- Which drive is fitted, the 8 kW electric pod or a diesel with saildrive, and, for electric boats, the battery capacity.
- The sail wardrobe: the standard self-tacking jib, an optional overlapping genoa, and whether a Code Zero is included.
- Whether the optional bow thruster is fitted. Twin-rudder boats need some way on before they steer.
- That the electrically extending bathing platform works properly.
- That the open-plan layout and single enclosed heads suit the way you plan to use the boat.
- A full survey by a surveyor familiar with modern foam-cored GRP construction.
Asking prices depend on age, specification and equipment. When Sunbeam 32.1s are listed on Hulls.io, they appear on this page. Browse every Sunbeam yacht for sale.