Hinckley Yacht Company Ownership Through The YearsĪfter nearly 50 years under the command of Hinckley, Richard Tucker bought the business in 1979. These are relayed to a mobile Web site with engine status, bilge, battery, fuel-tank levels, shore power connectivity, and more.Īll Hinckley boats, ranging in size from 29 to 55 feet, are still built in the Hinckley shop in Maine. These propulsion systems also include Heading Hold, Dynamic Steering, Geostationary Lock (G-Lock), and Parker Intellinders.Ī remote monitoring system called OnWatch was launched in 2016 to track data points onboard with sensors on the boat. With no propellers, pods, and rudders, drag is reduced for even more efficiency in speed and fuel consumption. This also offers safe navigation in shallow or unfamiliar waters because of the lack of hardware below the waterline. Hinckley yachts use water-jet propulsion for precise handling with a joystick to efficiently change direction for continuous maneuverability. Hinckley claims to be the only boat builder to use carbon fiber and Kevlar composite for all of the company’s designs. Starting in 2018, the builder employed an environmentally safer process with an epoxy-resin infusion and vacuum-infused process which increases strength up to 40%. As early adopters of the Seemann Composites Resin Infusion Molding Process (SCRIMP), Hinckley boats have a single chemical bond between the hull and the support structure. The Osprey was the last Hinckley wooden boat and was built in 1960.Įxperimentation to build lighter and stronger vessels with fiberglass continued and now the company uses other composites including carbon fiber. Innovations continued with auto-pilot systems and electric furling mainsails onboard their boats starting in the 1960s. Many in the industry felt that the company took a chance as it left wood construction behind in favor of new products. And during World War II, Hinckley helped meet the needs of the United States military by building vessels designed for war.Įver-growing, the 1950s saw Hinckley build hulls with fiberglass, a new idea at the time, and the first was their Bermuda 40 sailing ship in 1959. To procure the highest quality fixtures such as fuel tanks, stanchions, chocks, pulpits, deck plates, and masts, the company started to build and design their own products as Manset Marine Supply Company in 1940. The Hinckley Yacht Company has been an innovator on many fronts. In 1945, Hinckley built the first Sou’wester sailboat which grew to a fleet of 62, the largest single-design boat of that era.

Construction of the first Hinckley sailing sloop came five years later: the 28-foot Sparkman & Stephens design was the first of 20, and was the company’s first production-line boat. That was just the beginning of the company’s attention to detail and durability. The younger Hinckley built his first motorboat in 1933, a 36-foot fishing vessel named Ruthyeolyn.

Hinckley took over the business and set to work using his engineering degree (with studies in aeronautical and mechanical engineering) from Cornell University. They aimed for lobster fishermen most of the year, then chartered the boats to vacationers during the summer months.įour years later, his son, Henry R. Hinckley bought the Manset Boatyard in Southwest Harbor. More than 90 years ago, the Hinckley Company began in the boating business to service vessels plying the waters off the rugged coast of Maine.

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