Com-Pac Yachts is an American

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s, made by the Hutchins Co., Inc., a boat builder based in

Clearwater, Florida Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...

. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

s. Over time the brand and the company have become synonymous. The company was founded by W.L. "Les" Hutchins Sr. in 1957 and started building sailboats in 1970. The company ceased its operations in 2025

History

Les Hutchins had started as a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

and trained

tool and die maker Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries. Tool and die makers work primarily in toolroom environments—sometimes literally in one room but more often in an environment with flexible, ...

, but became an inventor, designing many automotive accessories and parts and even a folding

high chair A high chair is a piece of furniture used for feeding older Baby, babies and younger Toddler, toddlers. The seat is raised a fair distance from the ground, so that a person of adult height may spoon-feed the child comfortably from a standing po ...

. He established his first company in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, doing metal-stamping and fabrication work, making parts of the automotive industry under subcontract. Hutchins ended up owning a number of patents and registered trademarks. In an attempt to diversify his company's interests and also to move into a field he personally enjoyed, Hutchins decided to enter boat building in 1970. Focusing on the smaller end of the boat market, Hutchins's goal was "to build a small but highly efficient sailboat that would appeal to people who didn't want to invest too heavily in a boat, yet one they could easily trailer behind a compact car." His intended customer was

retirees A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...

moving to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, who would want a small, inexpensive boat that could be kept at home in a garage on a

boat trailer A boat trailer is a trailer designed to launch, retrieve, carry and sometimes store boats, so the boat can be road-transported around by towing behind a motor vehicle. When launching and retrieving the boat, the trailer is often submerged in ...

. The first design produced was the Clark Mills designed Com-Pac 16 in 1972, followed by another Clark Mills design, the Com-Pac 23 in 1978. The Com-Pac 16 was originally marketed as "The Com-Pac Yacht", but was later given its length designation to differentiate it from the rest of the product line. The boat building enterprise became Com-Pac Yachts. The Com-Pac 19 was designed by Bob Johnson of Island Packet Yachts in 1979. The largest boat built by the company was the Com-Pac 35, a 1990 Charley Morgan design. In 1999 the company started making small

catboat A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat) is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are f ...

s and discovered an untapped market. The newer designs incorporate

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

centerboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

s and use a unique mast, sail and boom folding system that allows quick transition from the road transport trailer to the water and back again. The company has its fiberglass hulls and its spars both built by subcontractors. When Les Hutchins retired, his sons, Gerry and Richard Hutchins took over the company. The company remained a small-scale producer, building only a few hundred boats a year. By 2021 the company was producing 12 designs. There were 11 sailboats: the Com-Pac Picnic Cat,

Com-Pac Sun Cat The Com-Pac Sun Cat, also called the Com-Pac Sun Cat 17, is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Clark Mills as a pocket cruiser and first built in 2000.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page X ...

, Com-Pac Sunday Cat, Sun Cat Daysailer, Com-Pac Horizon Cat, Com-Pac Horizon Day Cat, Com-Pac Legacy,

Com-Pac Legacy Sport Com-Pac Yachts is an American brand of sailboats, made by the Hutchins Co., Inc., a boat builder based in Clearwater, Florida. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats. Over time the brand and the company ha ...

, Com-Pac Eclipse, CP 23 Pilothouse, Com-Pac 23/IV and the Com-Pac 27/3. They also produced one

powerboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the inter ...

, the Com-Pac Launch. In a company profile for ''Small Craft Advisor'' magazine, writer Dennis Boese described the company, "Com-Pac Yachts has endured and prospered through lean and boom times of the sailboat-building industry. The Hutchins Company's unique ability to meld classic design and high quality with new and innovative technology virtually assures its continued success." The company website published the following news in 2025: "After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to cease operations effective May 1, 2025, due to the passing of Gerry Hutchins and the well-deserved retirement of Richard Hutchins".

Boats

Summary of boats built by Com-Pac Yachts: * Com-Pac 16 - 1972 * Com-Pac 16 Mark 2 - 1975 * Com-Pac 23 - 1978 * Com-Pac 23 Mark 2 - 1979 * Com-Pac 19 - 1979 * Com-Pac 19 Mark 2 - 1979 *

Com-Pac 25 The Com-Pac 25 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed as a cruiser.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 336. International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2010. The Com-Pac 25 is a development of the Wat ...

- 1979 * Com-Pac 23 Mark 3 - 1984 * Com-Pac 27/2 - 1988 * Com-Pac 35 - 1990 * C-Cat 3014 - 1992 * Com-Pac Picnic Cat - 1998 * Com-Pac 33 - 1999 *

- 2000 * Com-Pac Horizon Cat 20 - 2002 * Com-Pac Horizon Day Cat 20 - 2003 * Com-Pac Eclipse - 2004 * Com-Pac Legacy - 2006 * Com-Pac Sunday Cat - 2008 * Com-Pac 23 Pilothouse - 2011

References

External links

* {{Com-Pac Yachts Com-Pac Yachts

History

Boats

See also

References

External links