hinckley yacht yard

Hinckley Yacht Services

The blood money trail: how a war profiteer laundered his wealth through boat manufacturing, brand new hinckley talaria 34 burns due to incompetent design and build..

The brand new Hinckley Talaria 34 was in the middle of three days of sea trials when it was destroyed in a fire .

Founded in 1928 by Henry Hinckley, the brand is on it’s 9th owner. [recently resold in 1979, 1982, 1997,  2001 and 2011].   With each change in ownership, the quality of their work seems to have diminished. 

The Hinckley name, once synonymous with excellence, is now nothing more than a distant memory.

Sadly, the company’s current poor workmanship not only diminishes the brand but also poses a significant danger, with increased risks of fire, explosion, electrocution, injury, and loss of life. The very viability of the company is at stake.

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze in a boat tied up at Dysart’s Marina in Southwest Harbor Monday evening. Credit: Mark Good

Crews raised the Hinckley picnic boat on Tuesday. Credit: Edna Martin

From Warfare to Watercraft: The Dark Legacy of a Weapon Designer turned Boat Company Owner

Hinckley yacht services: a failure of trust and skill.

The craftsman’s have left.  Focused on accounting, the quality of work is life threatening.  Project management is incapable of making decisions. Their approach is inconsistent, neglected, and incompatible with achieving a satisfactory result on a reasonable schedule and budget.

Do you want your boating experience to be “ Man Rescued, Forced To Abandon Burning Sailboat”

“Preventing problems is easier than coping with a 0300 AM catastrophe “.  “It’s much easier to discover and remedy problems in the boatyard than while at sea.  Before every voyage is another chance to prevent potential trouble…Things can go from an easy to fix scenario to an abandon ship crisis in surprisingly short period time .

Hinckley Yacht Services may be the most dishonest boatyard in the USA

It’s always wise to get a second opinion when you have doubts about the honesty of the workmen . We did just that and sought out opinions from some of the most reputable professionals in the marine industry. It likely saved our lives.

With 35 years of service records from the same owner and the same boatyard, as well as professional opinions from experts in the marine business, it’s clear that honesty is an issue at Hinckley Yachts.

In this case, Hinckley Yacht Services failed to take the necessary steps to address the problems presented to them, including developing a plan, setting a direction and establishing priorities.

“The Galley: Fixing what isn’t broken”

During the pre-purchase survey, it was noted that the woodwork in the galley “showed its age,” indicating normal wear and tear for a frequently used boat. However, no wood rot was detected.

Despite this, the General Manager of Hinckley Yacht Service, Daniel Vullemier, insisted that the entire galley of a Hinckley Bermuda 40 needed to be replaced, claiming it was “rotten.” This was not the case, and it seems that Daniel Vullemier’s intentions were driven by greed.

A second independent specialist flown in from a famous New England boatyard, found no wood rot.

A boat builder known for expertise in woodworking should recognize regular wood, unless they were being dishonest.

Example 2: Engine: fraud.

It is not legal for Hinckley Yacht Service to bill for fake tests they only pretended to have done. 

The Engine Hoses May Be New With No Evidence Of Leaks, But It Is More Profitable To Lie

How can Hinckley hope to compete against  honest craftsman and superior technologies 

Hinckley Yacht Services: Incompetence of repair work

70 critically important safety issues involving failures on one boat 

Hinckley Yacht Services is unable to prepare, the boat that made them famous, a Hinckley Bermuda 40 for ocean racing.

Independent experts counted over 70 problems that Hinckley Yacht Service caused or ignored.

Critical safety items, that pose a direct risk of fire, explosion, electrocution, injury, or loss of life.

Important safety issues that may compromise safe operation, the vessel may lose power, lose control or flood as a result of this problem.

Not immediately serious, that may lead to substantial failures and/or repair costs in the future.

• See how Hinckley Yachts fixed their boat

Engine: Fraudulent examination followed by incompetent repairs

 3 decades of love by a single owner summed up the B40’s recent history. Maintained by the same yard and supported with decades of records, which Hinckley had no interest in. The boat had an active season prior to it’s sale.

Against best industry practices, avoiding scientific analysis and without bothering to fully exam the engine. Hinckley Yacht services billed for engine compression tests, they just did not perform them, nor did they send out oil for analysis.

Based on pretty much nothing except greed, Hinckley Yacht Services suggested the engine needed $ 36, 212 in repairs.

Exhaust System:Burn/Fire Hazard.

Neglecting the vitals of the boat to bill on the easy and expensive.  

Independent surveyor:  “The exhaust system is rigidly attached to the engine, while the engine is flexibly mounted. The non-jacketed interface at the exhaust manifold lacks insulation, this is a burn/fire hazard. The exhaust system is jacketed, should the inner jacket leak, seawater will infiltrate the engine’s cylinders. ” 

This system should have been “modernized using a dry riser and water lift muffler”. 

Waiting for the masts to fall in the ocean: Just how bad is Hinckley Yacht Service ?

Most catastrophic failures in sailing can be prevented through proper maintenance and inspection. A well-maintained sailboat should not experience a broken mast, except in extreme weather conditions or when rigging is found to be defective. Sailing can be a safe and enjoyable activity when proper precautions are taken.

The yacht’s chainplates are ferrous steel and rusting; these are known to be a weak point of the Hinckley Bermuda 40s of this era. Hinckley Yacht Services ignored specific written requests to address this issue .  Chain plate below deck armature should have been removed, cleaned, dye checked and inspected. 

Rigging is only as strong as it’s weakest link.

This boat was forced to withdraw from the Annapolis Bermuda race due to the suspect quality of Hinckley Yacht Services work.  

It is important to always ensure that all equipment is in proper working condition before participating in any race, otherwise you are putting myself and others at risk of injury or death.

It’s time to sell Hinckley Yachts

Electrical fires or failure? Simply a question of when.

“Throughout the yacht, DC wiring is oversized and installed in such a manner as to make ongoing maintenance exceedingly difficult.

Branch circuits appear to have been wired with no overall plan

No schematic drawings were evident”

Pressure Drop Refit Review. Conducted at Hinckley Yacht facility in Easton, Maryland

Jerry Lundquist, did you buy Hinckley Yachts and Hunt Yachts with blood money ?

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Hinckley Yachts

Hinckley yachts for sale.

The Hinckley Company started in 1928 as the Manset Boatyard in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Henry R. Hinckley’s focus was on servicing the local lobster boats as well as the yachts of summer residents on Mt. Desert Island. In 1933 Henry built his first boat, Ruthyeolyn, a 36-foot fisherman with beautiful lines that are surprisingly familiar and still look the part even today.

That first boat was fished hard for 9 months of the year and then varnished up and chartered in the summer months to vacationers. From the very beginning, the yachts from the Hinckley yard were kept to the highest standards.

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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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Volume 1 reviews the geography, weather and seasons in Mexico and shows you what the best anchorages between Ensenada and Manzanillo are like.

Volume 2 gives detailed info that can't be found in any of the guidebooks about the glorious cruising ground between Manzanillo and the Guatemala border.

Volume 3 (right) provides all the info you need to get off the boat for an adventure-filled trip to Oaxaca.

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!

The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

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Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

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