Design and Construction
Van de Stadt's hand shows in a hull that carries 31,966 pounds of displacement on a 35.4-foot waterline, with 13,228 pounds of lead ballast giving a 41.4 percent ballast-displacement ratio. A 7.22-foot draft and a skeg-hung rudder paired with a fin keel mark the 44 as a departure from the heavier, narrower cruisers that preceded her. The deck is solid fiberglass topped with teak, and the interior joinery reflects the Dutch yard's craft tradition. The 44's 40.8 comfort ratio and 1.7 capsize screening number sit where a serious passagemaker should, and the boat was explicitly designed for long-distance cruising and offshore sailing.
Rig and Handling
As a masthead sloop carrying roughly 900 square feet of sail, the Trintella 44 is built to make passages rather than win inshore races. Period assessment found she comes into her own on an offshore passage in testing conditions rather than coastal hops, and that loading her with a full cruising inventory hardly dents the waterline — a telling virtue for a boat meant to cross oceans with gear strapped aboard. She sails competently in light to moderate air but asks for reefing as the wind builds, and her motion is the real story: reviewers noted that pitching and rolling are well damped, with a cup of coffee on the saloon table standing a fair chance of staying put. A cruising speed near 6 knots and a top end around 8 reflect the moderate sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 14.3.
Accommodations
Below, the 44 is a three-cabin layout sleeping six in comfort, with two heads, a proper galley, and a saloon. The same review that logged the damped motion also described a spacious interior with three cabins — room enough for a family or two couples on a long passage without crowding. The 13.45-foot beam gives the saloon and sleeping spaces volume that earlier Trintellas lacked, and the layout supports self-sufficient living with the watermaker, generator, and substantial tankage (118 gallons fuel, 211 gallons water) that the design carries.
Equipment and Outfitting
From the factory the 44 arrived unusually complete for her era: teak deck, bow thruster, generator, watermaker, windlass, autopilot, radar, GPS, and VHF all listed among her instruments. That factory fit means a buyer is not necessarily looking at a bare hull begging for systems, though four decades on, the age of those original components is its own question. The single 85-horsepower Perkins diesel drives one shaft and pairs with the bow thruster for close-quarters control.
The Verdict
The Trintella 44 is a serious offshore cruiser from van de Stadt's Trintella years — heavy enough to stay composed in a seaway, roomy enough for six, and outfitted at launch for long passages. She is not a coastal dayboat, and her moderate rig wants reefing when the wind pipes up, but for the sailor who measures a boat by how she behaves at sea rather than at the dock, the 44 rewards.
Pros
- Damped motion and good stability offshore
- Load-carrying hull that barely changes waterline with gear
- Spacious three-cabin, two-head interior for six
- Factory-fitted passagemaking systems including watermaker and generator
Cons
- Not suited to coastal sailing priorities
- Needs reefing in stronger winds
- Only 24 built; limited pool of boats and parts familiarity
