A Boat Trader clone for your coast or lake.
A Boat Trader clone is a boat marketplace where dealers, brokers and owners list boats with the details buyers filter on: length, year, engine hours, hull and fuel. With Yclas you set those fields yourself, give dealers a page for their stock and charge for featured boats, on your own domain.
Free for 15 days · No credit card · Plans from $19 a month
Boat buyers shop by numbers.
Boat Trader is one of the best-known places in the United States to buy a boat, with most of its listings from dealers. Boat classifieds work when a buyer can narrow thousands of boats to the five that fit their berth, trailer and budget.
The boat classifieds script fields to set before launch.
Yclas has no ready-made boat pack, so you add the fields your buyers ask about, in your units, and choose which ones appear as search filters. It takes about twenty minutes, and every listing then reads the same way. Keep the form short for private sellers: make the first six fields required and the rest optional.
| Field | Type | Filter in search |
|---|---|---|
| Boat type | Dropdown: sailboat, motor yacht, centre console, pontoon, fishing, RIB, PWC | Yes |
| Length overall | Number, feet or metres | Yes, as a range |
| Year | Number | Yes, as a range |
| Engine hours | Number | Yes, as a range |
| Engine and power | Text: make, inboard or outboard, horsepower | Optional |
| Hull material | Dropdown: fibreglass, aluminium, wood, steel | Yes |
| Fuel | Dropdown: petrol, diesel, electric, none | Yes |
| Trailer included | Checkbox | Yes |
| Beam, draft, berths | Numbers | Optional |
Field names and units are examples. You can name them in your language and use feet or metres.
Start your Boat Trader clone on one stretch of water.
Win a coast, a lake, a country where the big sites are thin, or one class of boat: wooden classics, sailing dinghies, fishing boats, narrowboats or tenders. Owners of those boats know each other, and a site that speaks their language fills up through clubs and marinas.
Start with the dealers and brokers within an hour of your harbour. Load their stock for them, then ask the yacht club and the chandlery to share the site.
Shown on Weekender, our demo for boats, campers and motorbikes.
Every spec a buyer checks, above the fold.
Photos, price, location and the key specs you chose, then the full description and the seller. Buyers message the seller on the site, make an offer or save the boat, and you can show a phone number to signed-in visitors only.
- Up to 30 photos on the Marketplace plan, 20 on Professional and 5 on Starter.
- Questions answered in public stay on the listing for the next buyer.
A page for every dealer's stock.
Dealers and brokers sign up as business accounts and get a public page with all their boats, their logo, contact details and rating. Bulk-import their stock from a spreadsheet, and sell them a monthly plan with more listings and featured days.
- Business badge on every listing from a dealer.
- Seller plans with a number of listings each month.
Trailers, campers and motorbikes on the same site.
Buyers of boats often own a tow vehicle, a camper or a jet ski too. Give each its own category and fields on the same site, or keep the site to boats and do one thing very well.
Boat Trader features, and the Yclas part for each.
Including the parts a new boat site will not have.
| Boat Trader is known for | On Yclas |
|---|---|
| Search by length, year, type and engine | Your own fields, each one a search filter if you want. |
| Dealer and broker listings | Business accounts with a page for their stock, on Professional. |
| Private seller listings | Free or paid posting, with AI filling the form from a photo on Nova. |
| Featured boats | Featured listings, Spotlight places and boost packages. |
| Saved searches and alerts | Saved searches with instant or daily emails. |
| A ready catalogue of boat makes and models | Not included. Add makes as a dropdown, or let sellers type them. |
| Dealer feeds from boat dealer systems | Not included as a direct feed. Import spreadsheets in bulk. |
| Boat loans and insurance | Not included. Sell banners or links to local lenders and insurers. |
Boat Trader is a trademark of its owner. Yclas is not affiliated with Boat Trader. This table uses public information; your site gets its own name, look and listings, not a copy of Boat Trader.
How a boat marketplace makes money.
Boats are high-value listings: sellers pay more for visibility than on a general site.
Prices are examples: you set your own, in your currency. Yclas takes no commission on what you earn. All the ways to make money →
A launch plan for one harbour.
- Pick the waterOne coast, lake or boat class. Pick a look such as Coastal or Harbour.
- Add the fieldsType, length, year, hours, hull, fuel and trailer, as filters.
- Load the dealersImport the stock of three local dealers or brokers for them.
- Reach the ownersPosters at the marina and the club, and the share message for owner groups.
- Charge for listingsOnce buyers arrive, set a posting fee for boats and sell dealer plans.
Is it legal to build a Boat Trader clone?
Yes. A boat marketplace is a normal business. You may not use the Boat Trader name or logo, copy its pages, or copy listings from it. Get stock from dealers and owners directly.
Is there a boat field pack?
No. Boats use fields you add in the admin: length, year, engine hours, hull, fuel and anything else your buyers check. Each field can be a search filter.
What does a boat classifieds script cost on Yclas?
Starter is $19 a month, Professional is $99 with dealer accounts, and Marketplace is $149 with up to 30 photos per boat. Every plan has a 15-day free trial.
Can I use feet and metres?
Yes. Name the fields in the unit you use, or add both. Distances in search can be in miles or kilometres.
Can dealers import their boats?
Yes, from a spreadsheet, in bulk. A direct feed from boat dealer software is not included.
Can buyers search near a harbour?
Yes. Switch on maps and buyers search on a map or by distance from a place.
Can I also run boat auctions?
Yes, on Professional with the Nova theme: timed auctions with a reserve price and buy now, beside fixed-price boats.
Related pages.
The parts of Yclas this leans on.
Your boat marketplace, before the next season.
Add your fields, load your first dealers and open the harbour. Free for 15 days, no credit card.
Start my boat marketplace
Photo credits
The screenshots show demo sites with made-up sellers. Their photos come from Wikimedia Commons, some cropped or with signs and plates blurred; these ones are under Creative Commons licences:
- Luxury Pontoon Boats by Wake Riderz Boat Rental Lake Austin, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Sailboats moored at Orchard Point Marina on Fern Ridge Reservoir by Rick Obst, CC BY 4.0
- Sailboats Moored at Orchard Point Marina on Fern Ridge Reservoir by Rick Obst, CC BY 2.0
- Inflatable boat-001 by NJR ZA, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Laura S. Walker State Park paddle pontoon boat in Lake Laura by Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Jets Ski Rental Lagoon pontoon by Nonrev.me, CC BY 4.0
- Jayco Precept Class A RV by TaurusEmerald, CC BY-SA 4.0
- 1994 Four Winds Class C motorhome on a Chevrolet G30 Van chassis by Oleg Yunakov, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Starcraft RV - GSL Fifth Wheel by Anshamblen15, CC BY-SA 4.0
- NT Fall at the Campground (30428789441) by vastateparksstaff, CC BY 2.0
- Harley Davidson Cruiser and Touring bike (parked) - Ride for Kids Las vegas 2019 by Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0
- DSC 9361 A gleaming green cruiser motorcycle with chrome accents a large windshield and leather saddlebags parked among other bikes by PattayaPatrol, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Motorcycle touring Patagonia by danielpgauer, CC BY 2.0
- Dirt Bike Masters IMG 0704 (2847539492) by Tom Reynolds from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY 2.0
- ATV - Quad - SYM Quadlander 200 - Santorini - Greece - 01 by Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Quad Bikes in Long Beach by Ossewa, CC BY 4.0
- XUV865M by JDDeutschland, CC BY-SA 4.0