About Joe Zammataro

For over 45 years, Joe Zammataro has helped clients turn their boating dreams into reality and he’d welcome the opportunity to help you do the same.

Joe brings a rare blend of hands-on experience and professional insight to every transaction. As a lifelong sailor, boat builder, yacht broker, businessman, and proven negotiator, he provides thoughtful guidance and strong representation at every step. Clients value his practical perspective and broad product knowledge of power boats and sailing vessels, especially when comparing and evaluating yachts.

If you’re selling a boat, Joe’s extensive sales and marketing background helps ensure a smooth, efficient process, focused on achieving the strongest possible result with minimal stress.

Joe is one of less than 100 Certified Professional Yacht Brokers (CPYB) among more than 4,000 licensed brokers in Florida. A CPYB is the highest accreditation earned as a yacht broker. This designation reflects his commitment to ethical standards, accurate representation, and always protecting his clients’ best interests. Over the decades, Joe has helped thousands of clients buy and sell both power and sailing yachts. Most have become lifelong friends; relationships he values deeply and hopes to earn with you as well.

The Early Years

Joe’s love of the sea led him to earn a degree in marine biology and chemistry. When career opportunities in that field proved limited, and after completing extensive coursework in sales and marketing, he entered the yacht business in 1978 with Caribbean Sailing Yachts (CSY) in Tampa, Florida.

Over the years, Joe served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for several prominent yacht manufacturers, including Gulfstar Yachts, Lazzara Marine, Morgan Yachts, and Irwin Yachts. During this time, he had the privilege of working closely with some of the true legends of the boatbuilding industry.

He also worked with Azimut Benetti, the Italian manufacturer recognized as the world’s largest builder of motor yachts over 80 feet. These experiences gave Joe deep product knowledge and a thorough understanding of yacht construction, insight that clients often find invaluable when evaluating different boats.

The Middle Years

Joe’s brokerage career spans the building and sale of thousand of sail and power yachts. In 1984, he founded Preferred Yachts, the industry’s first fully computerized yacht brokerage. Always looking for better ways to serve clients, Joe developed a proprietary computer system in the 1980s to track brokerage yachts nationwide and match them with clients’ specific needs.

This innovation helped Preferred Yachts become one of the largest brokerages on Florida’s west coast. The system was later shared with BUC International and evolved into the BUC listing system, an industry standard for more than 15 years before YachtWorld emerged. Joe continues to innovate and develop better buying systens to help clients and brokers find the right boat at the right price.

Joe’s Pledge to You

Joe’s promise is simple: to advise you, not sell you.

After nearly five decades in the business, he never forgets what it feels like to be a buyer or a seller. Buying or selling a boat can be exciting, but also confusing and overwhelming. What’s a good boat? What’s a fair price? Who can you trust in a sea of conflicting information?

Joe’s approach is grounded in honesty, clarity, and sound judgment. His goal is to earn your trust, respect, and business, whether that means helping you find the right boat or successfully sell the one you own.

Joe invites you to get in touch, or better yet, visit Preferred Yachts’ unique floating office he designed and built located at the beautiful Harborage Marina in charming downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. In a nautically themed and casual environment you can discuss your boating needs and explore dozens of power and sailing boats directly outside our office at our Brokerage Display Center.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about Joe. Now he’d like to learn about you.

Give him a call and put him to work for you.