Boating in New York: Long Island, the Hudson, and Two Great Lakes
Of the roughly 170 boats and yachts for sale by owner in New York on YachtBazar today, the
median asking price is $38,450, with listings running $5,000 to $1,700,000
across 16 to 52 ft. Sailboats are the second-largest type behind general powerboats — ahead of fishing boats and
cruisers and motor yachts by title keyword. The listing map helps explain that sailboat share: Seaford
and Babylon, two of the five places with the most New York listings, are both Long Island
South Shore towns, and between Long Island Sound and the Great South Bay the metro area has
protected sailing and cruising water on both sides of the island.
The state's waters split into three distinct regions. Downstate is Long Island: the Sound
on the north shore, the Great South Bay behind the barrier beaches on the south, and Atlantic
access through the inlets for offshore fishing boats. The Hudson River runs from New York
Harbor up to Troy, where the canal system takes over — the Erie Canal heading west toward the
Great Lakes and the Champlain Canal north to Lake Champlain — so the coast and the inland
lakes are connected by water. Upstate is big-lake country: Rochester, among the top listing
towns statewide, sits on Lake Ontario; Buffalo is on Lake Erie; and between them the Finger
Lakes and the Thousand Islands stretch of the St. Lawrence keep boats far from salt water.
It is a northern season, though — haul-out and winter storage are part of the cost of
ownership here.
New York City, Long Island, Rochester, Seaford and Babylon carry the most listings
statewide, and Sea Ray, Bayliner, Chaparral and Boston Whaler are the most-listed makes. See
the by-owner sailboats for sale in New
York, boats priced $25,000 to
$50,000 in New York — the band the state's median asking price falls into — or
New York boat slips & docks if you need somewhere to
keep what you buy.