For $1 Million, Hinckley Makes the Perfect Picnic on the Water

Hinckley Yachts, a storied shipwright that was founded in 1928 and has been building out of Southwest Harbor, Maine, since 1933, has a rule: construct no boat until it’s been purchased. A client buys a boat and then works with Hinckley specialists to craft it. The results are spectacular yachts and motorboats made with carbon fiber, epoxy, beautiful woods, and up-to-the-moment technology.

But in 1994, Hinckley broke its no-building-before-buying rule for the very first Picnic Boat. The company was struggling financially when co-owners Bob Hinckley and Shep McKenney came up with the idea for a dayboat: It would look like the lobster boats that trolled Maine’s rocky coves, be made of the then-newfangled Kevlar composite, and use an innovative inboard jet system to allow the hull to navigate shallow water.