Little Harbor 42 Buyer's Guide
Ted Hood drew the Little Harbor 42 in the late 1980s, and Little Harbor Yachts built only a handful, so a used Little Harbor 42 on the brokerage market is a rare yacht to come across. She is a heavy-displacement centerboard cruiser, which means a buyer is considering a substantial boat with either shoal or deep draft rather than a common coastal weekender. Her 27,450-pound displacement and 10,950 pounds of lead ballast give her the mass of a true heavy cruiser, while the centerboard lets her sit at roughly 4 feet 8 inches or reach 10 feet down.
What to Inspect
Because so few of these yachts were built, a survey should focus on the features unique to the design. The retractable centerboard and stub keel are the defining element: confirm at the viewing that the board pivots freely through its full range and that the trunk shows no sign of water intrusion or structural cracking where it meets the solid fiberglass hull. With the board raised, measure that the loaded draft sits near 5.2 to 5.5 feet and that the hull settles at the claimed immersion rate of about 1,570 pounds per inch when weight is added. Inspect the masthead rigging terminals—halyards and the cunningham run at half-inch diameter over roughly 130-foot lengths—for fatigue at the swages, and check the five-eighths-inch sheets for chafe at the genoa tracks. The large wetted surface of about 592 square feet means bottom condition drives performance, so survey the hull below the waterline for blistering or poor fairing. Her sail-area-to-displacement is 14.2 under the reference sail and 16.9 with a 135 percent genoa, so check the sails for stretch consistent with those loads.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
A buyer should evaluate each hull on its own survey rather than against a fleet norm, since production was limited to a few boats.
- Verify the centerboard trunk is dry and the board moves freely
- Check masthead halyard terminals for fatigue at full 130-foot length
- Survey the 592-square-foot bottom for blisters or unfair areas
- Confirm loaded draft near 5.2 to 5.5 feet with board retracted
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Little Harbor 42. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 1 row
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25 | 1 | $199,000 | — |
Comparable models
Similar length, displacement, and era. Open a row to compare that model's market page.
Similar boats to compare
4 similar designs| Model | LOA | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moody 42 | 41.79' | $ 64,949 | 14 | 3 |
| Hinckley Sou'wester 42/43 | 42.75' | $ 245,000 | 12 | 7 |
| Camper & Nicholsons 42 | 41.83' | $ 20,000 | 11 | 6 |
| Little Harbor 38 | 38' | $ 64,500 | 4 | 2 |