HINCKLEY TALARIA RUNABOUT 34
Not many motor boats can justifiably lay claim to iconic status. Other than the Riva Aquarama you’d be hard pressed to muster a unanimous agreement for any other leisure boat. But one craft you could easily build a compelling case for is the Hinckley Picnic Boat. This is the boat that not only put waterjets on the map and set the template for all future Downeast-style commuter/lobster boats, but arguably kickstarted the hardtop revolution as well.
Hinckley launched its first water-jet powered Picnic Boat in 1994 and has since gone on to build over 1,000 examples in multiple sizes and configurations. And yet despite this extraordinary success, Hinckley remains relatively unknown outside its home market of the US. The strength of the dollar, the weakness of the pound and the EU’s 20 per cent tariff on US-built boats certainly don’t help but the real reason Hinckley isn’t too fussed about exports is simply because it’s busy fulfilling orders closer to home.
One man who’s determined to change that is Hinckley’s first and only European
