Back From The Brink

Hinckley Yacht Services rescues a T29 Runabout to showcase its maintenance and refit work.

- Dennis Caprio

She’d suffered the ravages of an unsheltered life in the tropics — relentless sun, excessive humidity, rain — but the Hinckley Talaria 29 Runabout was still a gem. It’s rare to find a Hinckley in such rough shape — their owners tend to be doting.

Hinckley Yachts saw an opportunity and arranged to buy and transport hull No. 62 to Hinckley Yacht Services in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Rescuing her made sense: The company didn’t have a client, but the completed restoration would create a portable showcase for HYS’s refit capabilities.

Service has become the lifeblood of Hinckley and other builders that focus on high-end boats sold in relatively modest numbers. This concept helped Lexus get a foothold in a marketplace dominated by Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Unlike automakers, which concentrate on regular service and customer care, HYS encompasses everything from routine service and storage to complete refits. All boats are welcome — big and small, old, barely used. The company has service facilities along the entire Eastern Seaboard and recently opened its latest in Stamford, Connecticut. Going over the top in service helps maintain the high resale value of Hinckley’s models.

The yard in Portsmouth can do most anything — carpentry, high-tech composite repairs, painting, mechanical and electrical upgrades, plumbing and upholstery. (It hasn’t tackled sails and spars, though.) The T29R (now known as the Runabout 29) placed in HYS’s care was built late in 2003 at the company’s facility at Trenton, Maine, and delivered to her owner in 2004. The hull is a Dual Guard composite laminate, which consists of a Kevlar and Eglass outer skin and a carbon fiber inner skin, with balsa and Core Cell coring, infused with vinylester resin using the SCRIMP method. The deck and cockpit are E-glass over balsa and Core-Cell and infused with vinylester resin using SCRIMP.