We normally don’t lead with Pimp pieces, but we are fairly attracted to the looks of this new Billy Tripp design, so there.
When you can’t decide between hiring a renowned composite boatbuilder and a celebrated wooden boat builder, you hire both. One New England-based sailor is getting the best of both the composite and wood worlds with a new Sou’wester 53, currently under construction. The Bill Tripp-designed pilothouse sloop will have a Hinckley Yachts-built hull constructed with carbon outer skin, foam core and carbon inner skin with epoxy resin infusion.
Upon completion, the hull will ship to Brooklin Boat Yard where their craftspeople will build a mahogany interior with salon and two staterooms finished in Herreshoff style. A third boatbuilder, Front Street Shipyard, is contributing its advanced-composite talents by constructing the deck and unique 360-degree wraparound pilothouse out of E-glass and epoxy resin with a foam core.
The Sou’wester 53 will be finished out and launched at Brooklin Boat Yard in summer 2019. The foil is biaxial e-glass and epoxy-wrapped steel with a lead ballast bulb and carbon rudder. Her modern hull form and runner-less fractional rig with swept spreaders guarantees she also will be fast in point-to-point racing. The owner-operated yacht will have a self-tacking jib and roller-furling boom for low-maintenance sail handling. Full specs and more information are online right here.
