Little Harbor 53
Description
The Little Harbor 53 is a premium, bluewater-capable cruiser designed by legendary American naval architect Ted Hood (founder of Little Harbor Yachts and pioneer in centerboard designs, Hood sails, and offshore yachts). Built by Little Harbor Yachts (hulls typically constructed in Taiwan by Lien Hwa or similar under Hood's supervision) starting around 1984–1985 (with examples up to the late 1980s), production was very limited—likely in the low dozens or fewer across variants (exact numbers not widely published, but consistent with Little Harbor's semi-custom, low-volume approach). It features solid fiberglass construction, a versatile keel/centerboard (keel/CB) setup for adjustable draft (shallow ~5'6"–5'8" board up for access/beaching, deep ~11'–11'4" board down for upwind performance), a powerful cutter rig (most common; some sloop configs), skeg-hung or spade rudder for balanced tracking and protection, and a luxurious, traditional interior (typically 2–3 staterooms with private heads, spacious saloon, galley, nav station, centerline aft cabin in many, and excellent headroom/storage).
Construction Details
| Designer | Ted Hood |
|---|---|
| Builder | Little Harbor Yachts |
| Length | 53.000 ft |
| LOA | 50.580 ft |
| LWL | 41.000 ft |
| Beam | 15.250 ft |
| Displacement | 45750 lb |
| Ballast | 18000 lb |
| Max Draft | 11.750 ft |
| Min Draft | 4.580 ft |
| Year Built | 1984 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 65.67 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 21.50 ft |
| p | 57.17 ft |
| e | 20 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65.67 ft | 21.50 ft | 57.17 ft | 20 ft | - | - | - | - |
Documents
Sails
Little Harbor 53 - MAINSAIL
| Luff | * 57.17 ft - (17425 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
| Leech | * 59.75 ft - (18212 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88.02 ° |
| Diagonal | * 59.91 ft - (18261 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 6 in - (152 mm) |
| Area | 571.17 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Little Harbor 53 - JIBSAIL
| Luff | * 55.28 ft - (16849 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 28.59 ft - (8714 mm) |
| Leech | * 47.82 ft - (14576 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 115 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 24.73 ft - (7538 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 12 ° |
| Area | 683.48 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Little Harbor 53 - GENOA
| Luff | * 65.64 ft - (20007 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | * 34.81 ft - (10610 mm) |
| Leech | * 61.64 ft - (18788 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 150 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 32.25 ft - (9830 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 4 ° |
| Area | 1058.37 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Little Harbor 53 - SPINNAKER
| Stays | * 65.64 ft - (20007 mm) |
|---|---|
| MidGirth | * 38.7 ft - (11796 mm) |
| Foot | * 38.7 ft - (11796 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 180 % |
| Area | 2159.23 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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