SWY 390 vs Najad 390

A buyer shortlisting a "Swedish 39" often keeps Sweden Yachts and Najad in the same browser tab. On paper the metres look close. On the water, and on the hard after a haul-out, the helm habits and the invoice folders diverge.

The SWY 390 is an aft-cockpit boat by Peter Norlin and Jens Östmann, built 1991-1998 in about 47 hulls. Length about 11.88 m, beam about 3.87 m, displacement about 7.6 t. The builder's plate often shows a Volvo MD2040 at about 40 hp. If the listing says "50 hp", treat that as a later swap more often than as the factory fit. Years 2010-2018, beam 3.55 m, or a reference site claiming "a hundred hulls": check the plate on the boat; that is already another series.

The Najad 390 is a centre-cockpit boat by Thorwald Karlsson, 1984-1995, length about 11.75 m, beam about 3.50 m, displacement about 9.5 t. An Enderlein name or years 1997-2005 in the ad copy, or a hint of a neighbouring deck-saloon line, means you are reading a different story. How many hulls Najadvarvet launched in this series is not in the yard's open figures; we do not invent a count.

Under way the SWY usually answers the helm more quickly from the open stern and feels lighter at the same length. The Najad is usually quieter behind the coachroof and denser in joinery below, but fewer cards show the right year and designer, and waiting for a match can take longer. Exiting either later is harder than exiting a neighbouring Hallberg-Rassy of the same class: invoices and condition decide, not the badge shine.

Before a deposit, haul both if you can. Check teak with your fingers, not only your eyes: under fresh varnish the boards still spring where winters have worked them. At the deck entries of the standing rigging (the wires that hold the mast), look for water and rust. At the Najad coachroof, moisture-meter the deck core (the layer between outer and inner laminate). On the SWY separately: which keel that hull carries, engine hours, and the age of the saildrive rubber diaphragm (saildrive: the leg with the propeller exits through the bottom, and the seal around that leg is a timed consumable). If the engine is no longer the factory MD2040, also read the bed: fresh sealant and new studs often mark a swap. Rigging age, wire or rod, is proven by invoice, not by the seller's word. Cockpit difference is clearer at sea than in a length table.

A Baltic ownership year is berth, insurance, winter ashore after haul-out, and reserves for deck and rigging. Full teak relay, a major deck-core repair, or an engine change sit outside that band. Convert to EUR for your region in the ownership calculator; the two SEK columns here are a planning band, not your marina's price list.

We do not promise a purchase price or a "clean" survey. Until the hull is inspected on the hard, laminate condition, teak scope, and system age stay unknown. This text does not replace sea trials or an independent surveyor.