Les Hutchins had started as a farmer and trained tool and die maker, but became an inventor, designing many automotive accessories and parts and even a folding high chair. He established his first company in St. Louis, Missouri, 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.[2]
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 moving to Florida, who would want a small, inexpensive boat that could be kept at home in a garage on a boat trailer.[1][2]
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.[1][2]
The company has its fiberglass hulls and its spars both built by subcontractors.[2]
When Les Hutchins retired, his sons, Gerry and Richard Hutchins took over the company. The company remains a small-scale producer, building only a few hundred boats a year.[2]
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."[2]
^Com-Pac Yachts / Hutchins Co., Inc. (2021). "Welcome to the Com-Pac Idea". com-pacyachts.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
