SOUTHWEST HARBOR, Maine — With a careful smashing of a champagne bottle and a subsequent thrust of the throttle to 40 mph, a local yacht maker launched the first of a new series of boat that it says will provide employment to dozens of people for more than a year.
With Gov. Paul LePage in attendance, several dozen Hinckley Co. employees and others watched Wednesday afternoon as the first new Talaria 48 took a spin around the waters off Mount Desert Island. Hinckley Co. CEO Jim McManus said Wednesday that the firm, which employs 230 people in Maine, has orders to build 11 of the boats and hopes eventually to build five or six a year.
The boat is 48 feet long and is designed to comfortably accommodate a family or two couples, McManus said. The vessel has two state rooms and two heads, or bathrooms.
“There’s so many people involved in a project like this,” McManus said at the company’s facility in the local village of Manset. “Today is the culmination of all this work.”
Mike Arieta, Hinckley’s vice president of production, said the Talaria 48 retails for $2.2 million. He said that just with the orders Hinckley has for the Talaria 48, the firm will have enough work for 90 people. He said Hinckley expects there to be steady demand for the new model.
“We’re confident we’re going to have a good backlog for that boat,” Arieta said. “We expect to have work for those 90 [employees] for the next 18 months.”
LePage attended Wednesday’s launching and spoke briefly about the importance of boat building to the state’s economy.
“I thought coming up here this was going to be a gift,” LePage joked as he briefly addressed the crowd before getting a tour and a ride on the boat. “This is a great day not only for Hinckley, but also for the state of Maine. I hope you build many, many, many more.”
According to information posted on the website of boat-building trade group Maine Built Boats, the industry in Maine helps provide work for 5,000 people and has annual sales that exceed $650 million. Attempts on Wednesday to contact officials with the trade group were unsuccessful.
McManus said that like many boatbuilders, Hinckley had a tough time in late 2008 and early 2009, when the 84-year old firm laid off 90 people from its Trenton production facility.
But he said that since the fourth quarter of 2009, when the firm set a sales record and rehired 30 to 40 workers, Hinckley has been steadily increasing its workload. In the past two years it has hired more than 200 people companywide, 140 alone on the production division, and in the past year it has increased its production by 50 percent, he added.
The company was sold in January 2011 to Scout Partners LLC, a capital investment firm. McManus, who was kept on as CEO, predicted at the time that the firm would continue to rebound.
Hinckley now employs 444 people at its nine locations on the East Coast, which include production sites in Trenton and Southwest Harbor and seven service sites out of state, according to McManus. In Maine, Hinckley employs 232 people, most of whom are involved in production operations in Hancock County. He said more than half of the company’s business is in its service division, and most of its service customers are non-Hinckley owners.
McManus said in addition to the model launched Wednesday, Hinckley plans to launch its new Talaria 34 model this summer and has received an order for a Sou’wester 42 sailing yacht, which is expected to provide work for an additional 20 to 30 Hinckley employees over the next 12 months.
“It’s really been exciting,” the CEO said. “We’ve really seen an extraordinary rebound since the first quarter of 2009.”
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
The CEO’s neeed to spend their money made from the Govenrment sponsered Corporate Welfare Plan, you know, where employees deposit their money, have to pay penalties and interest to get it back, have to borrow their own money. Soon, the stock market will ‘adjust” to a much lower point as baby boomers start to retire, because all of the money has been blown on operating costs instead of capital improvements and expansion. All upper level management getting paid millions per year are employees, so these are operating costs. If you are in a retirement plan, they are living it up on your money, and have convinced you it will be there when you retire. Fat chance.
What does your rant have to do with the article?
Who do you think can afford a 2.2 mil yacht, Joe the Plumber?
Possibly, if he didn’t have to support the scams that are perpetuated on the citizens by the Government.
huh? welfare and a Hinckley in the same article? *snicker* someone had some strong Mexican coffee today.. ever even seen a hinckley? I bet not, as then you would know these boats are highly sought after …they are absolutely gorgeous..
Nice pic. The guv’, hanging with his posse.
3.5 million for 30 sec ad for superbowl. Buy a boat it’s much cheaper………….
3.5 million for a 30 sec superbowl ad. Buy this boat instead and you will still have gas money.
Just barely… my friend’s 33 foot cruiser gets 2 gallons to the mile! Another friend has a French sailboat – good sized but I cannot recall the specifics. When we all want to tool around the bay, take a guess at which one we use! Sitting around with a couple of drinks? that’s the cruiser – much more deck space. I learned a secret – if you like boating, don’t buy a boat. Make friends with someone who has and chip-in towards the costs.
Congratulations to the company!
…Um, do the seats come in a different colour? The white ones look a tad chintzy.
You should go to their website. All their boats tend to have a lobster-boat look. Probably not my style but someone likes it.
Seems everybody is an expert, just makes me want to upchuck…
I’m happy for the company!!!! employing people in this climate is great!!!
I read some comments here that thinks companies that employ people should pay a penalty, what is wrong with liberals???
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At $2.2M, not that many need to be sold to provide the jobs. There is a big market, though, for quality and traditional yachts, worldwide. I am sure they will sell a few.
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“But he said that since the fourth quarter of 2009, when the firm set a sales record and rehired 30 to 40 workers, Hinckley has been steadily increasing its workload.”
Smells like an economic recovery, for some.
When will it trickle down upon the 99% , who are not building yachts ?
The Hinckley is one of the most beautiful boat on the water while under power! the jet drive is amazing, and to watch this boat skim over the water with its rooster tail streaming from the stern, it is fantastic!