hinckley yachts trenton maine

Hinckley Yachts, Trenton Maine

Photographer: Peter Frank Edwards

Somes Boats

Wherever the owners take them, the yachts all have Maine DNA. About 300 craftspeople, many with decades of experience at the yards around Mount Desert Island, work to build the motor yachts and sailboats of the Hinckley Company, which now also includes Morris Yachts.

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Hinckley Yachts Factory Tour – Where Cruising Dreams Come True

Our RV travels have brought us up to the northern coast of Maine on Mount Desert island (pronounced “dessert” despite the spelling!), home of rich forests, rich seas and rich people. While driving down the road the other day, we noticed two big trucks pulling yachts out of a driveway. Then we noticed a sign:

Hinckley Yachts – Now Hiring!

Yachts leave the factory for great adventures on the ocean.

We did a quick U-turn and decided to have a look. Not because we need a job, but because Hinckley Yachts are among the finest yachts built — and we had just driven right past their factory! We stopped inside and asked if we could take a tour. Within minutes a really nice young fellow named Chris, who’s been with the company for 12 years, handed us safety glasses and off we went!

What a wonderful surprise to be given a spontaneous factory tour!

His enthusiasm for the company was infectious, and as we saw how these phenomenal boats are made, and the energetic environment they are made in, we could understand why.

Hinckley Yachts was founded by Benjamin Hinckley in 1928, and Hinckley has long been one of the highest end custom yacht builders around. Once the dream boat of sailors in every yacht club, almost all Hinckleys being built today are powerboats ranging from 29 to 55 feet (and from half a mil to several million dollars apiece. Ahem!).

The cabin “pan” bow section of a power boat under construction.

Hinckleys are assembled using modern nautical engineering techniques, forging three separate fiberglass pieces together: the hull, the cabin (which Chris referred to as the “pan”) and the deck. Our Hunter 44DS sailboat was assembled the same way, as are most modern production sailboats, and the finished product is a stiffer and more resilient hull than the old fashioned method of using “stringers” (like floor joists) as ribs in the hull.

Many boating traditionalists were skeptical of this business of building the cabin separately and then lowering the cabin “pan” into the hull back when the lower end boat builders like Hunter and Beneteau started doing it, but if Hinckley is doing it now, then it must be the best way to go!

Power boat deck sections get assembled.

All Hinckleys are built with kevlar along the entire length and breadth of the hull, from the waterline down. By comparison, our Hunter had a kevlar reinforced hull from the waterline down in the forward section from the keel to the bow, which is unusual for a cruising sailboat in its class.

When we visited the Hunter factory before buying our sailboat Groovy, we learned that they test their new models by driving them into the beach at top speed while engineers with probes, sensors and clipboards take notes, look for leaks after impact, and refine their designs.

Chris didn’t say that Hinckley crash tests their new boat designs, but these boats are built to go anywhere and do anything, and they can be found all over the world.

A completed cabin “pan” section is lowered into the hull.

Once the pan is situated in the hull, then the deck is lowered onto the whole thing and sealed with 3M 5200 and other sealants.

Finished product – Let’s go!

What Hinckley is known for is the gorgeous fitting out that each boat receives.

Hinckley builds boats strictly to order, so every one of the 30+ boats that are in production at any one time have been purchased by an individual. Lower end production boats are built 95% of the way at the factory and then commissioned the last little bit by the dealership.

On our sailboat, the AGM batteries , and engine alternator were upgraded by the dealership for the owner that commissioned the boat. Most sailboat buyers have a dodger made locally as well, rather than going with a factory dodger.

Hinckley yacht interiors are truly lavish.

Not so with Hinckley. The wealthy folks that buy these boats can request anything they want, from specific navigation electronics, to different woods and interior layouts, and on an on. Most of the buyers are repeat customers who are upgrading or just need another boat.

Many of the buyers are celebrities, so it’s not uncommon for the factory workers to see a famous person arrive with their entourage. Sometimes the celebs send representatives instead, and frequently an interior designer or other consultant will show up to specify how the boat should be outfitted.

You can specify anything you want on your Hinckley!

All boat builders (and RV manufacturers) had a terrible time with the financial collapse of 2008, and Hinckley sharnk to just 40 employees and 4-5 boats on the production line at the time. Now they employ 265 people and they are going gang busters.

What put Hinckley on the map in the last two decades wasn’t their gorgeous Sou’wester sailboats that sent their reputation soaring in the latter half of the 1900’s. Hinckley’s modern essence is power boats!

Back in 1998, they started putting jet drive engines into their power boats. These engines similar to the ones used on jet skis, and they Hinckley’s boats completely. Without a prop, a Hinckley poweryacht of 40 to 55 feet can float in just 2 to 3 feet of water — ideal for the Bahamas where every bay is super shallow — and they can cruise at 30 to 40 knots easily!!

Wouldn’t it be fun to step off the swim platform into waist deep water and walk onto a deserted palm tree studded white sand beach?!!

Transom view: Jet drive engines make Hinckleys both shallow drafted and very fast.

So, with your deluxe Hinckley poweryacht you can jump from Ft. Lauderdale to the westernmost island in the Bahamas in a little over an hour, and you can spend the winter season anchoring in bays that few other boats can get into, all while enjoying the sheer luxury and space and amenities of a 55 foot top-of-the-line yacht that was built just for you.

What a way to go!!

Hinckley yachts on the production line.

But how much diesel fuel does it take to power twin Yanmar 260 horse power engines at cruising speed? Oh, somewhere on the order of 23 gallons per hour per engine.

Boats under construction every way we turned…

That’s chump change for the folks that can buy these boats, but if you want the wind to power your boat instead, Hinckley still makes stunningly beautiful sailboats. While we were there, a 42′ day-sailer was on the line. What makes such a big yacht just a day-sailer? The mini cuddy cabin is very small.

Rather than going out for a daysail in a little Sunfish or Hobie cat, why not take your 42′ yacht?

Ready for some summertime fun.

Now, these wonderful boats are not megayachts like we saw all through our cruise in Mexico . Our British yachtworker friend Derren has the unique dream job of flying all over the world to the most exclusive and fanciest marinas on every coast to do warranty work on British Sunseeker megayachts . Hinckley yachts are of the same caliber but max out at a half or a third of the length of Sunseekers.

We were amazed to learn that many Hinckley poweryachts are actually used as tenders to megayachts. Chris said it’s not uncommon for their customers to pick up a 43′ Hinckley to be a tender to a 200′ megayacht. They even had one customer who found that one 29′ Hinckley runabout wasn’t enough for his megayacht, so he had them build a second one. But 29′ was too long for the spot he wanted to stow it on deck, so he had them make new molds and redesign the 29′ runabout to a shorter 26′ version, just for him.

If you are in the class that can buy two Hinckleys and have the second one be a total redesign of the standard fare, then you aren’t really watching your wallet when it comes to repairing these things down the road.

Sheer elegance on the water — and skillfully driven too!

However, for luxury yacht owners on a budget, it turns out that the warranty on Hinckley yachts is lifelong, and we chatted with one fellow on the line who has done warranty work on boats that are decades old, all at no cost to the owner, even the current owner didn’t buy the boat new from Hinckley. No need for a third party RV warranty on these babies!

An hour after we drove off from this really fun tour, we were prowling around the cute town of Northeast Harbor when we looked out on the water and saw a familiar shape — a Hinckley powerboat! The captain swung it around in an expert maneuver and backed it into the slip effortlessly. Then he calmly stepped off the boat himself to cleat the docklines — without any assistance from anyone. Wow. These yachts and that kind of seamanship are the stuff boating dreams are made of.

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9 thoughts on “ Hinckley Yachts Factory Tour – Where Cruising Dreams Come True ”

Your neat article on Hinckley brought back many memories, when I was working with Ted Hood in Marblehood years ago, and Hinckley was a customer for both sails and masts. They were a fun customer to call on…as well as dream having one of those Bermuda 40’s.

What a great job you had, and how fun to work with Ted Hood and Hinckley. I’m glad this post brought back good memories!

What a lucky accident to just be driving by and get the factory tour!

In the mid-1970s, we were visiting Wrightsville, Beach, NC, and stumbled on the Westsail factory in the same way. They had just opened their factory there and had several 32′-43′ sailboats in their yard. They were very proud, rightly so, of both the new location and the beautiful boats, so we Colorado landlubbers also got the grand tour. I dreamed about one of those boats for years, but they were a little impractical for Corps of Engineers reservoirs at 5,000 ft. above sea level! Don’t know if Westsail is even in business anymore.

That sounds like a great tour too, Steve. Old Westsails are very popular cruising boats (on the oceans) to this day!

Never even thought of going to a yacht factory, this could be a really interesting vacation event for my family.

That tidy wiring on the back of the pan? I did that!

OMG!!! You work at Hinckley??!!! How totally cool is that! I wish we’d met you when we were there! What dream boats they are!!

It’s a hectic and fast-paced job, but still interesting and enjoyable. Not so many people in this country anymore get to help build something that people will enjoy for years to come.

I got that sense when we were there, Scott. How fulfilling to work on such a high end product and to be able to make your customers’ boating dreams come true!

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Hinckley buys Morris Yachts, a rescue by the Zumwalt, and the tallest American chestnut

Beam me up, Scotty

The largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy headed out to sea for the first time last December, departing from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River before reaching the open ocean for sea trials. And the 600-foot, 15,000-ton ship’s very first mission was an unexpected one. 

Bath Iron Works planned to test the ship’s performance and make tweaks this year with the goal of delivering the ship to the Navy sometime next year. The ship’s commander is Navy Capt. James Kirk, and he was chosen for his qualifications as a leader—not because he has the same name as the captain of the fictional Star Trek starship Enterprise . Too bad neither the Coast Guard nor the Zumwalt had access to that Kirk and his tools because then they might have been able to “beam up” the ailing fisherman. 

While the Zumwalt does not have that ability, it does have electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature. All of that innovation has led to a growing price tag. The Zumwalt , the first of three ships in its class, will cost at least $4.4 billion. The ship looks like nothing ever built in Maine. The inverse bow juts forward to slice through the waves and sharp angles are said to deflect enemy radar signals. We have been told that the ship’s radar profile will look no bigger than the fishing boat whose captain she rescued. 

Hinckley buys Morris Yachts

The year 2016 in Maine began with big news for boatbuilders. The Hinckley Company announced that it had bought Morris Yachts, closing the deal to acquire the assets of the Mt. Desert Island-area sailboat builder on January 1. Hinckley plans to continue Morris’ boatbuilding and service operations under the name of Morris Yachts, LLC. Both companies build fine luxury yachts within a quarter mile of each other in Trenton, Maine.

Morris Yachts, founded in 1972 by Tom Morris in Southwest Harbor, has built more than 300 sailboats. Founded in 1928, also in Southwest Harbor, Hinckley has expanded since then to include service facilities all along the U.S. East Coast. The company has around 700 employees, including 380 in Maine. An early developer of the fiberglass hull, Hinckley’s present yacht line includes its iconic jet boats, and sailing vessels, including the new Bermuda 50.

In the late 1990s, Hinckley opened a manufacturing facility in Trenton where most of its boats are built. The company was purchased in 2010 by Scout Partners LLC, which in turn bought Hunt Yachts in 2013. Morris began building yachts at its Trenton facility in 1999. The company also operates a service yard in Northeast Harbor.

Morris owners will be welcomed at any of Hinckley’s east coast service yards from Maine to Florida, according to Roe O’Brien, director of marketing for Hinckley. She said no other immediate operational changes were planned as a result of the acquisition, and that Hinckley “has no immediate plans to stop building anything in Morris’s current lineup.” Additional details about the purchase were not available. 

“Hinckley is thrilled to have an even greater pool of talent building products for us,” O’Brien said, “and we are also eager to create the same high level of customer satisfaction among Morris owners that exists among Hinckley owners.”

New below the water, and classic above

A new motoryacht designed to combine classic lobsteryacht lines with the ability to reach higher speeds is in the early stages of design and construction at John Williams Boat Company in Hall Quarry, according to a recent story in the Ellsworth American .

Production Manager Bill Wright told the American that from the waterline up, the new boat will look much like the traditional Stanley 38 lobsteryacht. But the boat will have a modern underbody designed to achieve speeds upward of 40 knots. The latest in propulsion units also is part of the equation.

“The top will be a molded Stanley 38 that we have here,” he told the newspaper, “and the hull itself will be a one-off, brand new hull.”

Designer Doug Zurn of Marblehead, Mass., is working on the hull design, the newspaper reported, which will feature a modified, or deep-V shape, similar to Sabre or Hinckley motoryacht hulls. The construction will be fiberglass over a form core. The company is shooting for late summer 2016 with the new boat.

Canada grants oil exploration lease near Georges Bank

Canadian authorities have granted Norwegian company Statoil an exploratory lease to look for oil in an area 225 miles southeast of Bar Harbor and bordering on the eastern flank of Georges Bank. Environmentalists, who oppose the move, fear drilling could leave the ecologically sensitive Gulf of Maine susceptible to a catastrophic oil spill.

It would be the closest that exploratory drilling has come to Maine since the early 1980s, according to a report in the Portland Press Herald . Five wells were drilled on the U.S. side of Georges Bank in 1981 and 1982, before U.S. and Canadian moratoriums were put in place to protect the fishing grounds, the Portland newspaper reported.

Statoil has pledged to spend at least $82 million exploring the parcels under its six-year exclusive lease. The relatively small financial commitment suggests the company has no immediate plans to begin drilling, which is a much more expensive process that requires further approval, the Press Herald wrote. 

Tallest American chestnut reaches for the sky in Maine

When University of Maine Forest Scientist Brian Roth set out with a graduate student in a small plane last summer to fly over Maine forestland, his goal was to find American Chestnut trees that had survived the chestnut blight. 

He succeeded beyond his wildest dream—finding a majestic specimen that was confirmed in December as the tallest American chestnut in North America. The tree is 115 feet high—taller than most 11-story buildings. This is huge news for tree lovers. American chestnuts ( Castanea dentata ) have been ravaged by an invasive blight that kills the trees to the ground. It is estimated that there are only a few dozen large surviving trees such as this one left in the Maine woods.

The next tallest tree in North America is one in Oregon that is 20 feet shorter, according to the American Chestnut Foundation. The tallest American chestnut in the world at 121 feet is in an arboretum in Belgium, said Ruth Goodridge, the foundation’s director of communications. The Maine tree is growing in Lovell, a town in Oxford County. 

Scientists at the American Chestnut Foundation hope to learn how this tree and others like it have survived the blight so they can develop blight-resistance varieties.

Last spring, Roth and his colleagues made maps looking at soil and climates most likely to support the American chestnut and scouted those places by plane last July when the chestnut trees produce distinctive clusters of white blooms. This tree stood out right away. 

“We knew what we were looking for,” Roth said. “We marked the GPS location and went back in October (by foot) to look again. We found it and the rest is history.”

In all, the UM researchers found about two dozen chestnut trees, including several growing quite close to the new record holder. Once the mighty giants of the eastern forest, American chestnut trees stood up to 100 feet tall, and numbered in the billions. 

The fungal pathogen responsible for chestnut blight was accidentally imported from Asia in the early 1900s and spread rapidly. By 1950 the fungus had eliminated the American chestnut as a mature forest tree.

Maine-built boat sails into history

Some of us at Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors were glued to our computers in early January tracking the progress of the Maine-built superyacht Comanche in Australia’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. The action was quite exciting!

High winds caused damage to some boats, which had to drop out as a result. Comanche almost quit after one of its dagger boards was damaged, sailing 30 or so miles back toward home, before turning around again and continuing the race. Her main remaining competitor, Rambler , also damaged one of its dagger boards.

In the end, when Comanche crossed the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania, owner Kristy Clark was on board, becoming the first female owner to take line honors in the blue water classic, according to a release from the race organizers. Kristy’s co-owner husband Jim Clark did not sail in the race.

Built at Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay, Comanche was skippered by Ken Read of Newport, Rhode Island. 

By all accounts, the finish was spectacular. As Comanche zigzagged close to shore in the fading wind, celebratory lights were flashed on and off from hundreds of houses and cars.

Her finish time of two days eight hours 58 minutes 30 seconds was outside the record of 1 day 18 hours 23 minutes 12 seconds set by Wild Oats XI in 2012.

But it did not matter. The last American to take line honors in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race was Larry Ellison’s Sayonara , 17 years ago in the fatal 1998 race, so Comanche ’s effort was quite an achievement.

“Baby born not in manger, but on island ferry”

We’ve stopped reading the perennial stories about the first baby in the new year,  but have to admit that the above headline in the Dec. 25 edition of the downeast weekly Quoddy Tides caught our attention.

According to the Tides , on Dec. 9 Jayla Nadene Clinch was born on the Grand Manan Adventure while it was tied up at the Blacks Harbour (New Brunswick, Canada) wharf. The little girl, whose parents are Tanai Sears and Daniel Clinch, wasn’t due until December 20. Sears was on her way to a hospital on the mainland to see if her labor could be induced when her water broke. Her doctor wanted to fly her out, but she told the newspaper: “It was my first baby, so we thought we had plenty of time. We snuck out the back door. The doctors phoned [the ferry] and said ‘Don’t let her on.’” She snuck aboard anyway. Ambulances were called to meet the ferry in Blacks Harbour. But when the ferry docked it was too late to move her. “By the time everybody got off the boat I was at 10 centimeters and ready to push. That was it. I had six pushes. It was really quick for a first baby.”

Ferry staff stood by outside to help the medical team. Amazingly the incident only made the ferry about 20 minutes late for its next run.

“It was great to report to the province that we were late because we were delivering a baby,” the captain said, according to the Tides .

“Frankenfish” headed to the dinner table

Federal regulators cleared the way late last year for genetically engineered salmon to be farmed for human consumption; it was the first-ever such approval for an animal whose DNA has been scientifically modified.

The salmon were developed by AquaBounty Technologies of Massachusetts to grow faster than conventional, farmed salmon. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval followed years of deliberations. The FDA has now declared that the salmon is as nutritious as normally grown Atlantic salmon, which means it will not require special labeling. 

The fish are not likely to land in Maine stores anytime soon, though. According to the Portland Press Herald, spokespeople for Hannaford, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Target, and several other national chains with stores in Maine have said they do not plan to sell the genetically modified salmon. 

Hold the shrimp

In addition to genetically altered salmon, Maine shoppers also will be hard pressed to find any local shrimp this year as fisheries regulators have extended a moratorium on fishing for Maine shrimp for a third year. 

The ban was first imposed in 2013 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Apparently prospects for shrimp recovery are poor for the near future. A commission report says warming New England waters will create an “increasingly inhospitable” environment for the shrimp.

The shrimp were previously sought by commercial fishermen from Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts and were a popular winter item at fish markets.

Island campus

The University of New England has begun using an island two miles off the coast of Saco as a “living laboratory” to study ocean life and the effects of climate change thanks to a Portland real estate developer who gave the family property to the school, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Donated by Art Girard, the island and its surrounding waters are home to migrating songbirds, lounging harbor seals, lots of dogfish sharks, and various intertidal flora and fauna.

Girard’s family bought it for $140,000 in 1999.

Students will use the island to study a range of marine issues, including the impact of climate change and warming Casco Bay waters on the ecosystem.

Girard, a commercial developer, has had a long interest in philanthropy and lighthouses, according to the Press Herald . In 2010, he lost a bidding war—by a coin toss—to purchase Ram Island Ledge lighthouse off Cape Elizabeth, then successfully purchased the Boon Island Light Station off York last year.     

Over the bar

The Maine boating community lost several pillars this fall and winter.

Winfield “Winnie” Lash, 97, of the famous line of Friendship boatbuilders, and Jim McManus, 52, president and CEO of The Hinckley Company, died in November. Chandler “Sandy” McGaw, 58, a long-time manager at Camden’s Wayfarer Marine, and Jeff Armstrong, 64, owner of Jeff’s Marine in Thomaston, left us in January. 

Lash, one of 14 siblings, was a self-taught man of many talents. He owned Lash Brothers Boatyard in Friendship, which he started in 1946 when his uncle, Scott Carter, passed away with a partially completed passenger ferry in the works. At one point or another, all eight Lash brothers, several in-laws, a nephew, and various friends have worked there over the years. Under Lash’s skilled hands, the boatyard completed countless ferries, lobster smacks, seiners, draggers, Friendship sloops, and pleasure boats. His sons said Winnie put a bible in every boat he built.

McManus was appointed president of Hinckley in June 2007. He had a career in the dry cleaning, food services, and financial industries before joining Hinckley shortly before the global economy nosedived in 2008. Under his leadership and new ownership the company navigated the Great Recession and emerged as a more efficient yacht builder and service provider.

A former part-owner of Wayfarer Marine, McGaw was Wayfarer's general manager and a shareholder in the private company until 2008, when it was sold. McGaw remained as general manager before retiring in 2011. When Lyman-Morse acquired Wayfarer in July 2015, McGaw rejoined the staff.

Armstrong began working at Anchorage Marine in Thomaston in 1977. Two years later he bought the business, renamed it Jeff’s Marine and ran it until he died. 

Losing four people as extraordinary as these guys in just a matter of months is a tragedy and a shocking reminder of how important it is to celebrate life while we have it.            

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Hinckley Yachts

The Hinckley Company, founded in Southwest Harbor, Maine, has been building and servicing this world renowned brand since 1928. The Hinckley Company Southwest Harbor, ME 130 Shore Road Southwest Harbor, ME 04679 (P) 207 244-5531 (F) 207 244-9833 The Hinckley Company: Corporate One Little Harbor Landing Portsmouth, RI 02871 (P) (401) 683-7005 (P) (866) 446-2553 HID (1972-1998): HRH (1998-2009): THC

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Hinckley Sou'wester SR. 38

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Hinckley 42 competition.

Hinckley Sou'wester 42/43

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Ocean cruising 48.

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Hinckley Company sold

The Hinckley Company, iconic Maine boatbuilder of sail and power yachts, has been sold to private equity firm Scout Partners LLC. Phil Bennett, vice president of sales for Hinckley, confirmed the sale, which took place in January.

Founded in 1928, Hinckley builds its high-end boats at facilities in Trenton and Southwest Harbor, Maine. The company also owns eight service boatyards along the East Coast.

The new owners, Scout Partners, is a partnership between David Howe and Peterson Capital LLC, a private equity firm founded by former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson.

In 2008, according to the New York Times , Hinckley claimed revenue of about $100 million. That same year the company was forced to cut some 50 workers at its Trenton facility and another 56 workers in 2009. In May 2010 the company brought back nearly 100 workers in Trenton and another 35 in Southwest Harbor.

According to Howe, “We love the Hinckley brand, and plan to nurture it to preserve all that is Hinckley. We’re very excited about the future potential of the company, including the boatbuilding and service businesses.”

In a press release Hinckley Company CEO James McManus said, “2010 was a significant rebound year for the company. New boat sales were strong and continue to show momentum. We’re excited to have new ownership partners that are committed to building the Hinckley business and that share a passion for the Hinckley brand.”

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The Hinckley Company acquires Morris Yachts

Hinckley Yachts acquired the assets of Morris Yachts on Friday, Jan. 1. Hinckley indicated it plans to continue using the Morris brand as it absorbs Morris’ boat-building and service operations in eastern Maine.

“Both companies build fine quality yachts within a quarter mile of each other in Trenton, Maine,” Hinckley wrote in the release. “With the new arrangement, about 380 craftsmen, engineers and technicians will provide a deep pool of talent for the building of world-class yachts. “

Hinckley Yachts, founded in Southwest Harbor in 1928, makes luxury sailing and power yachts. In the 88 years since then, the company has expanded to include facilities in Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey and Rhode Island. It has eight service yards along the East Coast and counts 1,500 Hinckley yacht owners and 5,000 service customers among its worldwide clientele.

In 1998, Hinckley opened a manufacturing facility off Route 3 in Trenton where it builds power picnic boats. Hinckley itself was acquired by Scout Partners LLC at the end of 2010.

Morris Yachts , a smaller company with about two dozen employees, was founded 40 years ago and has built more than 300 sailboats. Morris, which bills itself as “America’s premier builder of sailing yachts from 29 to 80 feet,” last year hired a new CEO in Pete Carroll and opened a new waterfront service yard in Falmouth.

Morris officials were not immediately available Tuesday morning for comment. With the acquisition, Morris Yacht owners can now bring their boats for servicing at any of Hinckley’s facilities along the East Coast, Hinckley officials indicated.

Roe O’Brien, director of marketing for Hinckley, said Tuesday that no other immediate operational changes have been planned as a result of the acquisition. She said additional details about the purchase were not available but that more information may be released sometime in the near future.

“We’re thrilled to have the companies join hands,” O’Brien said. “We’re delighted to have another great Maine brand in the family.”

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Hinckley: The iconic, semi-customized yacht

Hinckley is an iconic luxury brand with an intensely loyal (and wealthy) following. An illustration of that loyalty: After Hinckley lost a significant amount of business during the financial crisis, 94-year old David Rockefeller Sr. ordered a $3 million, 55-foot powerboat, just to keep them afloat.

The Hinckley Company, based in Trenton, Maine, has been making semi-customized yachts since 1928. Their sailboats and powerboats are known for their classic aesthetic and craftsmanship, superior performance, and Hinckley’s customer service. Hinckley is an iconic luxury brand with an intensely loyal (and wealthy) following. An illustration of that loyalty: After Hinckley lost a significant amount of business during the financial crisis, 94-year old David Rockefeller Sr. ordered a $3 million, 55-foot powerboat, just to keep them afloat. To put that into perspective, a typical powerboat can take up to two years to complete.

The Business Model

Pathways to Just Digital Future

A boat can be both an emotional purchase for someone who truly loves boating, but also a purchase that is meant to show off someone’s wealth and status. Hinckley hits all the right notes when it comes to this significant acquisition:

• They have a well-deserved reputation for power and safety. A pioneer of the fiberglass hull, Hinckley stands out for its technological innovation. They were the first semi-custom yacht company to use jet-propulsion engines, which they developed in a partnership with former Navy engineers. When it comes to the open ocean, the safest boat for your family is the most powerful one.
• Your boat won’t look like anyone else’s. No two Hinckleys look exactly alike, since the interior of each boat is designed to its customer’s specifications.
• Once you’re a Hinckley customer, you’re in for life. Hinckley creates the most value though its dedication to customer service. It also helps that its 8 service yards account for 65% of the company’s revenue. When your “accessibly-priced” T34 Picnic Boat costs upwards of $500,000, you certainly want to maintain it in perfect condition. Ensuring customer satisfaction in that regard is paramount for Hinckley. Tellingly, most Hinckley buyers are repeat customers who are upgrading or just want another boat.

The Operating Model

A Rebound and Refocus on Customer Service

Hinckley suffered during the economic downturn and accumulated significant debt – and lost half of its 635 employees. In 2011, it was acquired by the private equity firm Scout Partners. And, thanks to its strong name and customers, it was able to rebound and rehire almost its entire workforce by 2012.

Unlike many other yacht companies, Hinckley maintains its tight link to its customers by only doing built-to-order, rather than working with dealers – an important coup for their brand equity. At any given time, there are only ~30 boats in production, and almost all of them have been purchased by an individual. Rather than focusing on volume, Hinckley focuses on the quality of each stage of a customer’s ownership experience.

Hinckley maintains a very close working relationship with a customer as her boat is built. Typically, a customer (or her representative) works directly with a sales director on the boat design. Everything is customizable, down to the alignment of the screws. After the boat’s completion, the customer picks it up at one of Hinckley’s eight eastern seaboard service yards, where she is introduced to her dedicated service manager, as well as an app that helps her track the condition and status of her boat should it ever go into storage. As one manager put it, his job is to make sure that “Customers feel taken care of, that this is their boatyard of choice, and that they wouldn’t consider going anywhere else.”

Each yard feeds off of each other. Boats can travel north during the summer and south during the winter, allowing for a consistent, quality customer service experience.

And to close the loop, when a Hinckley owner wants to trade in her boat after a good run of several years, she can resell it to a Hinckley brokerage.

Craftsmanship, customized

The production yard is the biggest employer in Trenton, ME, and the workers take ownership in the success of the company as well as each boat that they build. The factory operates as a classic job shop. Most of the hardware is made by Hinckley, with the exception of the hydraulics, electrical, and electronics. Hinckley works closely with its OEMs to train its production team in state-of-the-art mechanics.

Many of the production crew employees are akin to artisans, and they can spend years working on a single boat. A $2 million boat upgrade project could occupy a team of 25 for two years, customizing every aspect of the boat.

In this market segment, it is impractical and prohibitively expensive to build prototypes. Hinckley depends on Computer Aided Design software for the hull design, and then does a full sized mockup of the deck and interior layouts. This allows the designers to get a sense of how to get the space of the boat just right for their discerning customers.

Hinckley’s product, customer base, business strategy, and marketing are all perfectly aligned to create timeless, beautiful boats for decades to come.

References:

http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/columns/general/qa-with-jim-mcmanus-ceo-of-the-hinckley-co/

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/02/business/hinckley-launches-new-model-of-power-yacht/

http://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/about_us/success/case_study.cfm?Component=30184&ComponentTemplate=1481

http://me.usharbors.com/image-gallery/family-ties-new-model-completes-hinckley-luxury-line

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/business/10hinckley.html

http://me.usharbors.com/image-gallery/hinckley-companys-maine-yards-hit-new-milestones

http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=9613

http://www.hinckleyyachts.com/Service/Stuart/Specialties2.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSF7fMOHRmQ

http://www.hinckleyyachts.com/pdfs/ Hinckley -All-Power-Brochure.pdf

Student comments on Hinckley: The iconic, semi-customized yacht

Very interesting post! One question I have is, given their limited capacity, are they constantly at 100% utilization in their Trenton facility (aside from during the recession)? If so, what would the costs/benefits be of potentially expanding their facility to allow for more boats to be produced or serviced at any given time? Also, given the enormous percentage of their revenue that comes from servicing boats – what drives Hinckley customers to use the manufacturer to service? Do new boat buyers sign service contracts, or do they simply return to Hinckley for service because of brand equity and their desire to keep their boats as “purely Hinckley” as possible? Either way, an extremely interesting company!!

Hi Leigha! Boat buyers don’t sign service contracts – they return to Hinckley because it’s easy and part of what they’re buying when they purchase a Hinckley is the service itself.

They are at 100% utilization. Their production backlog is as long as 2 years for some of their models. I don’t know exactly what the exact monetary cost or benefit would be to expand their facility, but I do know that after they were acquired by the new private equity firm, they made a conscious decision to keep their labor and production costs as lean as possible.

How have they thought about marketing and it’s role in maintaining, changing the business and operating models? Customization and customer service seem to be core pillars, which would put it at odds with traditional mass marketing. Do you see this as a challenge to expansion?

Since the boats are so expensive, their marketing efforts are very targeted. Also, half of their business is repeat customers and many of their new customers come via word of mouth. While they do do some traditional print and digital campaigns, a typical marketing campaign for them looks like a jointly hosted party with a private jet company. They’re a luxury good – I don’t see the fact that their business model is at odds with mass marketing as a challenge to expansion. I DO think that they are very American east-coast focused, and that if they want to reach a wider market they will need to establish service yards on the west coast and internationally, which might be very difficult for them to do from an operations perspective.

Kate, great post. I was really excited to see a post about Hinkley, as I love their yachts. I’m curious, do you know how their manufacturing process flows? Do they have those 30 or less boats in some sort of assembly line, or do they have a team for each new boat, like a job shop? I would be curious, and would love to tour their operations someday.

Thanks, Steve! They are like a job shop and have a team for each new boat. Those teams are usually working on 2-3 boats at any given time. I want to visit, too!

Great post! Hinckley reminds me of Sunseeker – a leading UK luxury yacht company which went through similar struggles during the recession and ended up being purchased by Wanda Group. A growing portion of Sunseeker’s customers are now wealthy Chinese – I wonder if Hinckley’s customer base is likely to shift towards China too and if they’re well placed to capture the growing luxury Chinese market.

I would also be interested to know what the PE owner changed operationally to help turn the company around.

Great post. This is a remarkable piece of work. The thing that most impressed me about the post is probably the optimism of David Rockefeller Sr. buying a boat at 97.

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