ShareThisYachts for the average Joe. That's the premise of Rich Hutchins' boat-building company, Hutchins Co. Inc.
He and his younger brother, Gerry, inherited the company from their father, who started Hutchins half a century ago to make automotive accessories.
In 1974, Les Hutchins created the Com-Pac Yachts division to diversify the company.
More than 30 years later, Com-Pac Yachts is still family-oriented, with Rich and Gerry's sons working at its shop in Clearwater, Fla. But the slow economy has chilled sales.
As he gives a tour, Rich Hutchins explains the process of hand-building a Com-Pac Yacht, the small sailboat that has become his firm's trademark.
The company builds nine models that range in price from $10,000 to $200,000.
A shell of an unfinished boat sits in the middle of his assembly room. Back when the shop made eight to 10 boats a week, vessels used to be lined up out the door, he said. Now they are making only 10 boats a month.
Despite a dip in sales, Hutchins bets his company can weather the storm.
Q: When most people think of yachts, they think of these large mega-yachts. How are your yachts different?
A: The public perception of yachts is large and only for the rich. That's not a fact. Everybody can own a boat that wants to have one and can call it a yacht whether it be 16 feet or 65 feet. It is your yacht.
Q: At the time when your father started in the yacht business, were small yachts like Com-Pac Yachts common?
A: Well, the concept was to be able to package the boat in 16 feet and to be able to ship it by common carrier, which never happened, but it was a good idea at the time. And it just kind of took off from that. Our experience was with people like Sears and people like that in the automotive accessory business.
Q: How are sales right now in this economy?
A: Obviously, we are like everyone else. Generally, you need food, clothing and housing. Boating becomes at the bottom of the list. Obviously, we are down, but we are still selling a number of boats.
Q: Have you adjusted the way you market your boats because of the economy?
A: No, we go through dealers. We have dealers who have been with us for many, many years. And that's the way we are going to continue to do that. There have not been any incentives at this point. I don't know what incentives would create more sales right now, because people are saving.
Q: What are your most popular models?
A: The ones that you could put in your driveway or your garage.
Q: Why do you think those are so popular?
A: Because you don't have to rent slips! And you know the maintenance is easy. You can store it at home. You don't have to go to a particular yard that has to raise out the big boats to do maintenance on them.
Q: I would think these boats would sell more right now than the mega-yachts.
A: Yeah. It does not require a million to own them, either. We're boats for the average people.
Q: How do you think you will be able to survive the current slump?
A: Our plan is just to stay current. We're receiving a lot of activity going on right now. I haven't seen a lot of sales yet. But we received a lot of activity. We are hearing from our dealers that people are looking into buying boats. They weren't looking for a long time, but now they are looking.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
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