Design and Construction
The Sou'wester 51 is a solid fiberglass hull with a keel-and-centerboard configuration, the board giving her a maximum draft of 11.09 feet with the board down and a shoal draft with it raised for thin-water access. Her displacement-to-length ratio of 372.49 and comfort ratio of 48.29 describe a vessel built to carry a cruising payload without punishment, while the capsize screening value of 1.60 reflects a form considered stable for offshore work. Hinckley had moved fully to fiberglass by the late 1950s and the Sou'wester line had already run through earlier fiberglass iterations before this 51-foot design; by the time the 51 appeared in 1984 the yard was under the family-linked ownership established when Bob Hinckley repurchased it in partnership with Shepard McKenney in 1982. McCurdy & Rhodes, who had previously worked with Hinckley on the 43, drew a masthead sloop on a lead-ballasted hull that reads as a purposeful ocean cruiser first built in 1984.
Rig and Handling
The masthead sloop rig carries a reported 1,240 square feet of sail area, broken into a 583-square-foot main and a 656-square-foot foretriangle, on a mast standing 69.42 feet above the waterline. The sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 15.99 is moderate — enough to move the 44,000-pound hull with authority in a breeze without demanding extreme rig loads. The I measurement of 64.99 feet and J of 56.89 feet describe a large foretriangle that drives the boat upwind, while the E of 20.51 feet gives the main a powerful roach-free footprint. The centerboard is the defining handling element: down, it delivers the lateral grip of a deep fin; up, it frees the hull to wander shoal coves that a fixed-keel 51-footer could never enter.
Accommodations
The authority documents used here do not itemize berth counts or joinery details for the Sou'wester 51. What can be said from the design ratios is that a 14.08-foot beam and 44,000-pound displacement provided McCurdy & Rhodes a voluminous hull to arrange living space, and the comfort ratio of 48.29 signals a platform that does not pitch and roll like a lighter vessel. The centerboard trunk necessarily occupies a slice of the accommodation footprint amidships, a trade accepted in exchange for the draft flexibility.
The Verdict
The Hinckley Sou'wester 51 is a thoughtfully conceived McCurdy & Rhodes cruiser that uses a centerboard to reconcile upwind performance with shoal-water freedom, wrapped in a heavy solid-fiberglass hull with a reassuring stability profile. She is not a lightweight, and her moderate sail plan will not win buoy races against modern flat-out designs, but for a couple or family intending serious cruising the numbers describe exactly the boat the spec sheet promises.
Pros
- Centerboard keel gives 11.09-foot draft down and shoal access board up
- 44,000-pound displacement with 34.18 percent lead ballast for offshore stability
- Comfort ratio of 48.29 and capsize screening of 1.60 indicate a seakindly hull
Cons
- Heavy displacement and moderate sail-area ratio limit light-air acceleration
- Centerboard machinery adds a maintenance and inspection burden absent on fixed-keel boats
