Courtesy / Morris Yachts
Three Morris Yachts M36s were in production last winter, for customers in New York and Chicago. A Hinckley Yachts Picnic Boat can also be seen at the head of the production line.
September 9, 2019
Morris sailboat brand keeps on cruising after Hinckley acquisition
Courtesy / Morris Yachts
Black Feather was the latest M36 that emerged from production. Wythe Ingebritson, sales and brokerage director for the Morris Yachts brand, delivered the boat this past spring to its owner in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Morris Yachts has maintained a quiet but steady presence since Hinckley Yachts picked it up for an undisclosed sum in January 2016.
Recently, sales and brokerage director Wythe Ingebritson returned from delivering a new Morris M36 sloop to a customer in New York.
“We just finished up three new M36s and don’t have a new boat in build, but we do have some good interest and I hope to have a couple sales this fall,” he told Mainebiz.
The three sailboats were built for customers in New York and Chicago.
The activity represents a positive boost to the Morris Yachts brand. Founded in 1972, the sailboat builder sold more than 200 of its high-end performance cruisers known as the Ocean Series, and more than 125 M-Series boats designed both for daysailing and offshore cruising, at prices ranging from $200,000 to more than $1 million.
Like other boatbuilders, Morris Yachts took a hit during the recession. Pre-recession new-boat production peaked at 21 or 22 and plummeted to a low of four in 2014. In 2016, Cuyler Morris, the company’s former president and son of the founder, told Mainebiz it had been difficult for the small company to adapt through the economy’s ups and downs. He said he expected the sale of the company to Hinckley Yachts to provide a more viable future for Morris.
“Being part of a bigger organization, where there are different resources, and different opportunities to share across lines, will provide stability to our workforce,” he said at the time.
Both are pinnacle yacht brands in the midcoast region. Morris focused on the daysailer and ocean cruising sailboat markets. Hinckley dominates the jetboat market. Hinckley acquired the Morris production plant, which located within a quarter-mile of its own production facility in Trenton. Hinckley is also the parent company of Hunt Yachts, in Portsmouth, R.I.
Since then, said Ingebritson, Hinckley has focused on Morris’s M-Series, which ranges from 29 feet to 52 feet long.
Ingebritson is handling all Morris Yachts marketing and sales, and its brokerage.
“I’m doing events as much as I can,” he explained. “I have a database of people I continue to reach out to. We have a little bit of co-marketing.”
For example, Hinckley hosts boat events at its Stamford, Conn., service yard, and Ingebritson plans to take an M36 to the event, while sending out an email blast to the database inviting people to try it out.
In August, he joined the Hinckley contingent to show Morris sailboats at the Maine Boat & Home Show in Rockland. Additional shows, with demonstration rides, include Newport, R.I., Annapolis, Md., and Florida.
“There’s still more opportunity,” he said. “The goal is to tap into a broad database where there’s a fair amount of crossover.”
The company has also launched a new M52, an M42X and an M36X in the past few years, he said. The “X” indicates the boat has a deeper keel and taller rig for people who like to race.
All together, about 10 new Morris yachts have been built since the acquisition.
“There’s still demand out there,” he said. “And we get repeat customers.”
A number of Morris employees were hired by Hinckley and continue to focus on the Morris boats, he said. Construction of Hinckley, Morris and Hunt boats now takes place at both production facilities.
Cuyler Morris remains a presence as the brand’s “ambassador,” doing things like helping out at shows and doing demonstration sails, said Ingebritson.
“He’s a valuable asset,” he said.
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Anonymous
April 15, 2024
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