When he announced plans for the new 40-foot Hinckley Picnic Boat at the Newport boat show recently, Mike Arieta, Hinckley’s CEO, said that “it’s been 23 years since we launched the first Picnic Boat. It’s rooted in what we do.”
That is certainly the case. Indeed, the first Picnic Boat, a drop-dead gorgeous 36-foot, single-diesel, teak-laden dayboat, has become an icon of yacht design, copied around the world. I fell in love with the boat when I first tested it outside the Hinckley factory in Southwest Harbor, Maine, and so did thousands of other people. Hinckley’s Picnic Boat lineup now has a 34- and 37-footer, both powered by twin diesels and with jet drives. The new 40, scheduled for launching early next year, will be the third and largest of the Picnic Boat fleet.
One innovation in the new 40 is a side boarding door that slides under the gunwale, as opposed to opening into the cockpit, which saves space there. The layout, as Arieta said, “is a seamless flow from the transom” to the helm. The cockpit, like the smaller Picnic Boats, is built for entertaining, while the interior is made to serve either as a day boat or a cruising mode with a convertible settee that becomes a queen berth.
Michael Peters, the naval architect who has designed the recent Picnic Boats, drew the lines for the new 40. It has a 19-degree deadrise at the transom to help it perform well in various sea conditions. Standard power is twin 480 Cummins diesels linked to 322 Hamilton jet drives, producing a top speed of about 34 knots. Optional power is a pair of 550-hp Cummins, with a projected top speed of 38 knots.
The Hamilton waterjets and the boat’s 2’2” draft mean you can take it into skinny water almost anywhere, and you don’t have to worry about props catching lobster pots in Maine or fishing lines in the Bahamas. Jets, of course, are inherently safer than props for swimming or watersports. Hinckley’s new JetStick3 provides fingertip control for docking or low-speed maneuvering.
Specs.: LOA: 42’0”; Beam: 12’10”; Draft: 2’2”; Disp.: 25,000 lbs.; Fuel: 375 gals.; Water: 80 gals.; Power: 2×480 Cummins diesels, or 2×550-hp Cummins diesels, with Hamilton waterjet drives.
http://hinckleyyachts.com
