Perry Design Review: Little Harbor 51

Ted Hood has opened a new yard in Taiwan in the town of Tam Shui. This complements his older yard at Shen Long and further increases his potential production.

His new model is a 51-footer if you get the reverse transom and a 52-footer if you order the traditionally raked transom. Hood will customize these models to suit your needs, but we will confine our comments to the 51-footer as presented in the brochure.

I always thought the stern was the best place for the cockpit. You can see everything going on in the boat and you are aft out of the spray. You are certainly closer to the water than you are in a center cockpit configuration and the feeling of speed is far greater. All sensible things aside, aft cockpit boats look better and the Little Harbor 51 is a handsome example of the breed.

Starting with the hull, we see a very typical Ted Hood shape with a centerboard, very deep garboards, exaggerated rocker and a telescoping spade rudder. The rocker is there to get the ballast down as low as possible. This basic shape has been the staple at Hood's design group for about 20 years. I can remember walking around Hood's One Tonner, Robin, and marveling at the whale belly shape. It's as effective today as it was then when Robin kicked transom up and down the coast.

These are heavy boats by current standards, but they are certainly not slow boats. The D/L ratio of the 51 is 296. This displacement translates into plenty of volume for accommodations and tankage. Note the moderate distribution of beam.

You can draw your own interior on the back of an envelope and the guys at Little Harbor will translate your sketch into a precise working drawing.

The Hood group has pioneered cruising rigs over the years and piled up an enviable record of producing strong and reliable rig designs. The Hood spar group is now producing non-Stoway spars and I see the new 51 is drawn sans Stoway.

Note the aft and centerline lowers augmented by both babystay and midstay. It's not much fun to pull a genoa around a midstay, but it's less fun to watch your spar buckle and fall over the side. The SA/D ratio for this design is 15.25.

This is a handsome design. The cabintrunk is long and low, drawn out with a low, wedge-like mini-trunk forward. The sheer is attractively sprung and highlighted by a varnished teak toerail. It would be fun to go to Taiwan and watch your new 51 come together.

Boat Specifications

This story originally appeared in Sailing Magazine, and is republished here by permission. Subscribe to Sailing.