Tripp sailboats for sale

Buying a used Tripp: two different designers under one name

A Tripp-badged sailboat could be the work of either of two men who share a surname and nothing else in their production timelines: William H. Tripp, Jr., whose boats date to the 1960s, and his son Bill Tripp III, whose own firm's boats date from 1984 into the late 1990s. The two eras never overlap - the elder Tripp died in 1971, more than a decade before his son founded Tripp Design Naval Architecture - so a used-Tripp search really means picking a generation first, then a model within it. Confirming which Tripp designed a given hull, and which yard built it, matters more than the model number by itself.

Which era to target

Classic-era boats span the 1960s - Javelin 38, Lentsch 29, Oceanic 48, Paceship 32, Polaris 26, Santander 30, Invicta, and Invicta II - all designed before Bill Tripp III's firm even existed, since the elder Tripp died in 1971. Several of the smaller classic boats came from one Dutch yard, G. de Vries Lentsch, builder of the Javelin 38 and the Lentsch 29; only a couple dozen Javelin 38s were ever finished there, most of which crossed the Atlantic through a single importer, Seafarer Yachts, so expect a longer search and fewer comparables than with the line's best-known boat. That boat, the Bermuda 40, was built separately by Henry R. Hinckley & Co. - Hinckley's own start date for the run isn't perfectly settled between sources, with 1959 and 1960 both cited - and it's worth knowing that Hinckley reworked the centerboard and mast around 1968, then introduced a taller-masted Mark III in 1972, so a pre-1968, 1968-71, and post-1972 Bermuda 40 are three meaningfully different boats despite sharing a name.

The modern era covers a distinct set of hull numbers instead of model names - 26, 33, 36, 37, 38, 40, 40 MH, and 47 - plus the Freedom 24, all launched by Bill Tripp III's own firm between 1984 and 1997. Rhode Island's Carroll Marine built at least the 36 and the 47 in fiberglass-composite construction, putting this generation's production on a different continent and in a different decade from the classic era's Dutch- and Hinckley-built boats.

Navigating the lineup

Within the classic era, the Bermuda 40 carries the deepest production run and the clearest documented history - worth targeting first if Hinckley's build quality and a long track record matter more than size options. The smaller Dutch-built classics are rarer and thinner on record. Within the modern era, the Carroll Marine-built boats represent part of Bill Tripp III's earlier, smaller production work, before his firm's reputation grew around large sailing superyachts. The full model directory on this page breaks out every model by size and year.