Hinckley Sou'wester 59 Buyer's Guide
The Hinckley Sou'wester 59 on the brokerage market is a low-production American cruiser built by Hinckley Yachts between 1982 and 2001, with only 16 hulls ever completed. McCurdy & Rhodes drew the design as a center-cockpit keelboat whose retractable centerboard gives a 6.50-foot retracted draft and 12.50-foot extended draft, and the boat's 69,000-pound displacement with lead ballast places it firmly in the serious offshore-cruiser class. Shopping one means weighing the early fiberglass hulls against the final Kevlar and carbon composite builds, and understanding that semi-custom construction makes no two boats identical in fit-out.
Layouts on the Used Market
Owner three-cabin layouts are the more common on the used market, but both are available; ex-charter examples are common. Reference documentation describes a six-berth arrangement with two single bow cabins, two aft double-berth cabins, a port-side U-shaped galley at the forward companionway ladder with stove, ice box, and double sink, a starboard navigation station opposite, and two heads — one in the forepeak and one port-side aft. Later hulls such as the final 2001 example document three private cabins with accommodations for eight and a private aft owner's suite featuring satin-varnished cherry joinery, dual berths, and a dedicated companionway to the cockpit, with a main salon of warm cherry, a C-shaped settee, and generous natural light. The center cockpit and raised salon coachroof are consistent across the series.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
A short-handed setup and a furling main are commonly fitted to these boats. Beyond that baseline, the equipment picture is dominated by owner choice: air conditioning, heating, spinnaker, asymmetric spinnaker, radar, AIS, autopilot, and chartplotter are all sometimes-or-owner-upgrade items rather than standard fittings. Factory-documented equipment on later hulls includes electric winches, an electric headsail furler, Espar heating, reverse-cycle A/C, a high-capacity watermaker, and a tri-radial Norlam gennaker, with a British Perkins Engines 135-horsepower diesel for docking and maneuvering and, on final builds, a Yanmar diesel. A buyer should expect the sometimes-upgrade electronics to reflect each prior owner's voyaging style rather than a uniform package.
What to Inspect
Documented known issues for the Sou'wester 59 are limited, but the transition from traditional fiberglass to Kevlar and carbon composites in the final builds like Zanetia is a material change that should guide inspection and any future repair planning — composite hulls require different assessment than the earlier fiberglass-with-wood-trim construction. The retractable centerboard and skeg-mounted rudder controlled by a wheel are mechanical systems whose operation and sealing should be verified, though no flooding paths or drainage defects are recorded in the source material. With only 16 semi-custom hulls, each boat's joinery, companionway access configuration, and climate systems should be inspected as individual executions rather than to a single production standard.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
The typical market for used Hinckley Sou'wester 59s is the United States. For a buyer, the essential checklist is brief but demanding:
- Confirm whether the hull is early fiberglass or final-build Kevlar/carbon composite, and plan surveys accordingly
- Verify centerboard and skeg rudder operation and integrity
- Expect owner-three-cabin layouts as the more common configuration, with ex-charter examples common
- Treat short-handed setup and furling main as commonly fitted; electronics and spinnaker gear as owner upgrades
- Review the semi-custom accommodations and systems as a unique execution, not a repeatable spec
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Hinckley Sou'wester 59. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 4 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25 | 3 | $ 449,000 | — |
| Apr 26 | 2 | $ 550,000 | +22.5% |
| May 26 | 2 | $ 437,500 | -20.5% |
| Jun 26 | 1 | $ 55,000,059 | +12471.4% |
Where they're listed
Hinckley Sou'wester 59 listings appear across 2 countries. United States has the most listings with 6 (85.7%), followed by countries.Florida.
Country view
7 listings · 2 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $ 514,500 | 6 | 3 | 85.7% |
| countries.Florida | $ 550,000 | 1 | 1 | 14.3% |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
5 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinckley Yachts Sou'wester 51 | 51.16' | $ 509,308 | 25 | 7 |
| Oyster Yachts 54 | 53.92' | $ 628,852 | 18 | 4 |
| Discovery Yachts 55 | 54.79' | $ 656,780 | 12 | 5 |
| Frers Bluewater 56 | 54.08' | $ 1,690,000 | 9 | 3 |
| Hinckley Yachts Sou'wester 59You are here | — | $ 514,500 | 8 | 5 |