Two Maine boatbuilders will build a custom cruising yacht

Brooklin Boat Yard of Brooklin, Maine, and Hinckley Yachts of Southwest Harbor, Maine, are partnering to build a Bill Tripp-designed Sou’wester 53. The modern pilothouse sloop will feature a Hinckley-built composite hull and a custom Brooklin Boat Yard-built interior.

Constructed for a cruising-minded owner hailing from New England, the completed yacht will launch in June 2019.

The Sou’wester 53 has a single-level layout and a pilothouse with views from every direction. The pilothouse acts as an indoor/outdoor room. There’s room for hosting friends, dining and relaxing alongside a helm station with joystick steering. A sliding glass door design provides the flexibility and comfort.

“I looked to design a boat that honored the tradition of Phil Rhodes’ great pilothouse boats,” said designer Bill Tripp in a Hinckley press release. “The Sou’wester 53 is a new, classic American-style pilothouse boat that brings the outside in with a helm station and 360-degree wrap-around sightlines from inside the pilothouse.”

The interior features two double cabins and two heads with stall showers. The mahogany interior will be finished in Herreshoff style and complemented by a teak sole with gloss varnish. The decks and cockpit will have teak decking.

“Our carpenters and shipwrights at Brooklin Boat Yard have a real opportunity to show off their craftsmanship with this yacht,” said Steve White, president of Brooklin Boat Yard. “The bespoke interior will be elegantly finished to the owner’s high standards and particular specifications.”

Hinckley will construct the hull of carbon outer skins, foam core and carbon inner skin with epoxy resin infusion in their state-of-the-art facility opened earlier this year. The foil is biaxial e-glass and epoxy-wrapped steel with a lead ballast bulb. A carbon rudder complements the modern underbody.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Brooklin on hull number one of the Sou’wester 53. We strongly believe in this new yacht, which will enable owners to experience the joy of bluewater sailing with the ease of ownership that is uniquely Hinckley,” said Peter O’Connell, president and CEO of Hinckley Yachts.

The Sou’wester 53 is primarily a cruising yacht set up to be owner-operated with a self-tacking jib and roller furling boom for low-maintenance sail-handling. Her modern hull form and runner-less fractional rig with swept spreaders guarantees she also will be fast in point-to-point racing. Auxiliary power comes from an 80-hp Yanmar saildrive with three-blade folding prop and a bow thruster.

Hinckley Yachts began construction of the hull in August 2018. Upon completion, the hull will be delivered to Brooklin Boat Yard for the installation of the interior. More information about the Sou’wester 53 is available on Brooklin Boat Yard’s website at brooklinboatyard.com, on Hinckley Yachts’ website at hinckleyyachts.com and on Tripp Design’s website at trippdesign.net.

Sou’wester 53 Specifications:

Hull LOA 52’-4” / 15.96 m

LWL 44’-1” / 13.45 m

Beam 14’-3” / 4.35 m

Draft 8’-3” / 2.5 m

Cruising Displacement 29,700 lbs / 13.5 tonnes

Sail Area (up wind) 1,624 ft2 / 151 m2

Fuel Capacity 100 U.S. gallons / 380 liters

Water Capacity 218 U.S. gallons / 450 liters