Tom Harney walks through a center-cockpit Hinckley built for real passagemaking — cherry joinery, a walk-in engine room, and 2025 electronics.
Some boats need a hard sell. The Hinckley 59 Sou’wester is not one of them. In this dockside walkthrough, Tom Harney of Jordan Yachts introduces S/V Prana, a 1992 example of the model, with a simple summary that the rest of the tour proceeds to back up: fast, strong, and beautiful.
Deck and Rig: Set Up for Shorthanded Miles
The sailplan is built around ease of handling. Prana carries a roller furling jib and a roller furling staysail, with a Forespar Leisure Furl in-boom furling system for the main. A powerful bow thruster handles the close-quarters work. Above, a Questus self-leveling radar mount rides on the backstay, and a dodger and bimini shelter the cockpit.
Aft, the deck is organized for cruising rather than daysailing: a large dedicated propane locker, a separate large lazarette, and stainless steel davits carrying an AB 12 AL aluminum RIB. A 20-horsepower Yamaha outboard hangs on a stainless lifting frame, three solar panels are mounted above the davits, and a Revere Regatta six-man life raft is aboard.
The center cockpit is the heart of the layout — spacious and comfortable, with electric primary winches, a chart plotter with radar, and wind instruments. Harney notes that all the electronics were new in 2025, which is the kind of detail that changes the arithmetic on a boat of this vintage. A large teak fold-out table turns the cockpit into a dining room at anchor.
Below: Cherry, Teak and Holly
Down the companionway, the interior is finished in rich cherry with teak and holly soles throughout, and it’s climate-controlled with both air conditioning and heating. The navigation station sits to starboard with the DC electrical panel, a large opening chart table, and a second chart plotter.
To port, the galley is unmistakably an offshore galley: dual stainless sinks, a three-burner Force 10 propane stove with oven, top- and bottom-loading refrigeration plus a separate freezer compartment, a microwave, and generous storage. The salon centers on a large opening teak dining table.
Forward, there are two guest staterooms with upper and lower berths — one to starboard, one to port — sharing a guest head with a separate stall shower to port, plus a large bow locker with chain storage. All the way aft, the owner’s cabin is genuinely spacious, with a centerline island berth, private head and stall shower, an abundance of drawers and lockers, and an overhead hatch for light and air.
The walk-through connecting the two ends of the boat earns its keep: a stainless steel workbench surface to starboard, the AC distribution panel to port, and access to a walk-in engine room housing a 135-horsepower Perkins six-cylinder diesel, an 8 kW Westerbeke generator, the watermaker, and the air conditioning and refrigeration compressors.
Where She Sits in the Market
Sou’westers of this size don’t come up often, and the current picture is thin — worth knowing if you’re comparison shopping.
| Active Hinckley 59 Sou’wester listings | 1 |
|---|---|
| Asking range | $550,000 |
| Median asking | $550,000 |
Harney closes the video by noting that Prana has been continually upgraded and maintained, and that a personal inspection is highly recommended — sound advice for any boat, and especially one with this much systems depth to appreciate in person.