Hinckley Picnic Boat 34 (Talaria 34) Buyer's Guide and Review

Hinckley Picnic Boat for sale at 34 feet: which boat is it?

When a Hinckley Picnic Boat for sale is listed at 34 feet, it is almost always the same hull under one of several names. Hinckley launched it in 2012 as the Talaria 34, or T34, a smaller, sportier and cheaper sibling of the 36-foot original Picnic Boat. By 2017 Hinckley itself was calling the boat the Picnic Boat 34, and in 2018 Yachting described the Picnic Boat line as the 34, the 37 MKIII and the new 40. Brokerage databases, including Hinckley's own, now carry entries for Talaria 34, Picnic Boat 34, Picnic Boat 34 MKII and Picnic Boat 34 S.

The S needs a word of caution. On the larger Picnic Boats, Hinckley uses S for its Signature Edition, a package in which a long list of options comes standard; Soundings reported the 37 S and 40 S as the Signature line for the Picnic Boat's 30th anniversary. We have not found a Hinckley spec sheet for a Signature 34, so treat 34 S as a listing label and judge the boat by its equipment list rather than its badge.

There is also an open sibling, the Talaria 34R runabout, with a long sunpad aft, a power bimini and twin 320 hp Yanmars. It shares the 34-foot jetboat concept but not the hardtop layout, and it is priced and used differently.

A recession-era brief: simpler, sportier, twin engines

Hinckley developed the 34 through the downturn that followed 2008, when its newly enlarged twin-diesel Picnic Boat 37 arrived just as buyers disappeared. President Jim McManus told Power and Motoryacht the company ran a slew of focus groups and, unusually, asked Grady-White and Boston Whaler owners as well as Hunt, MJM and Sabre owners what they wanted. The answer was a simpler boat with twin engines, a comfortable helm and a large head, even at the expense of galley space.

The result fit between the 29R runabout, then $383,000, and the Picnic Boat at $835,000. At $535,000 base the T34 was, in McManus's words, priced to bring new people in, and Hinckley had sold six before the first one touched the water. It also carries less exterior teak than earlier Hinckleys, with teak soles, coamings and a swim-platform insert offered as options.

Michael Peters's 19-degree bottom under Picnic Boat styling

The original 1994 Picnic Boat ran on a relatively flat 15-degree transom and a single diesel. For the 34, Hinckley hired Michael Peters to draw the underbody, which carries 19 degrees of deadrise at the transom, while Hinckley's own team drew everything above the waterline: the low sheer, the tumblehome and the sweep of the coaming that make it read as a Picnic Boat from a hundred yards.

Construction follows Hinckley's SCRIMP resin-infusion process with vinylester resin, Kevlar, E-glass and balsa core. Power and Motoryacht reported that refining resin flow and using some interior components as structure cut about 700 pounds, leaving the twin-engine T34 at about 14,000 pounds. Hinckley's 2017 specification for the Picnic Boat 34 lists 14,900 pounds with the larger engines.

• LOA 34 feet 3 inches, LWL 31 feet 5 inches, beam 11 feet
• Draft 1 foot 10 inches thanks to waterjet propulsion
• 160 gallons of diesel and 35 gallons of water
• 19-degree transom deadrise

Twin Yanmars, Hamilton jets and the JetStick

Early T34s used twin 260 hp Yanmar 6BY2 diesels driving Hamilton waterjets. Power and Motoryacht's test boat hit 32.8 knots at 4,000 rpm burning 28.2 gph, and saw a two-way average of 33.5 knots on a later run with three people and full fuel. At 3,500 rpm it made 26.3 knots on 21.8 gph, about 173 nautical miles of range on 160 gallons. By 2017 Hinckley was fitting twin 320 hp Yanmar 8LV engines with Hamilton HJ274 jets and quoting a 31-knot cruise and 35-knot top speed.

Waterjets are the heart of the Picnic Boat experience. There are no props or rudders hanging below the hull, so the boat draws under two feet, can run over lobster-pot warps with less worry, and is safer around swimmers. Hinckley's JetStick joystick, which it first paired with the Picnic Boat in 1998, lets a skipper walk the boat sideways with one hand. In the 34, the twin engines also free the center of the boat from an engine box: push a button and the forward section of the cockpit rises on struts to give standing headroom between the engines.

Testers praised the handling. Power and Motoryacht described hard turns at about 30 knots in which the boat carved like a sports car while staying completely dry.

A cab-forward layout built for day trips

Hinckley called the 34 its cab-forward design. The helm sits proportionally farther forward than on the Picnic Boat, and the cabin was shortened to make room on deck. Under the hardtop are U-shaped lounges just aft of the helm, and in the open cockpit forward- and aft-facing seats. The helm deck and cockpit are on one level, so moving aft is a walk, not a climb.

Below, there is a V-berth sized for two adults, a small galley better suited to a picnic than a cruise, and a head that testers called generous for a 34-footer. Overnights work for a couple. The real use case is the one McManus described: fishing if you want to, skiing if you like, or an elegant cocktail cruise with friends.

Notable 2013 options and prices included teak pilothouse and cockpit soles at $15,020, a 5 kW Onan generator at $16,250, reverse-cycle air for cabin and pilothouse at $16,850, and a GPS-linked autopilot at $3,600.

What a Hinckley costs to keep

At a 26-knot cruise the 34 burns about 22 gph in the early 260 hp configuration, so an owner running 100 hours a season at speed will buy around 2,000 gallons of diesel. Slower running is less efficient per mile than on a propeller boat of similar weight, because jets work best at speed.

Expect $30,000 to $55,000 a year for slip, insurance, storage, service on two diesels and two jets, varnish and canvas. Hinckley's network of company-owned service yards is a selling point, and boats maintained there sell faster and for more, but yard rates are high. Waterjet service, including impeller and wear-ring inspection and the hydraulic steering and reversing buckets, is specialized work that should go to a Hamilton-trained shop.

Where the 34 fits in today's Hinckley range

Hinckley's 2026 range starts with the outboard-powered Hinckley 35 and moves up through the Picnic Boat 37, 39, 40 and 45. The 34 is no longer listed, which makes it the least expensive way into a twin-engine, jet-drive Picnic Boat. Compared with an original single-engine 36, the 34 is faster, has a deeper-V bottom and twin-engine redundancy, but gives up some cabin and galley space. Compared with a 37 MKIII it is smaller and usually several hundred thousand dollars cheaper.

For buyers who simply want the Hinckley look, ride and service network for day boating, the 34 is a strong value. Buyers who plan to spend weeks aboard should look at the 37 or 40.