Henriques Yachts
Henriques Yachts has been a relative newcomer among New Jersey boatbuilders, at least as a company. It was only created in 1977 by Jack Henriques, a Portugese immigrant. But it has remained a family business under the same ownership, which can not be said of all NJ boatbuilders since that time.
Although young when he came to America, and when he started the company, Jack Henriques had boatbuilding in his family blood. His family name and family pride are closely tied to his boatbuilding business.
Jack's first boat was a 35 foot Maine Coaster, more of a Downeast style than a Jersey Design. It was probably more like the boats of his native waters and country, and also a rugged ocean-going boat. Indeed it was a very successful model for the company for many years, but was never designed to do all the things being asked of it by the New Jersey sportfishermen. Jack learned from the success of his nearby New Jersey boatbuilders, and the company's boats adopted the traditional Jersey Design.
There is always an opportunity to differenciate a company's product. Henriques has somewhat more of a fishing orientation than some other builders. They pride themselves on being popular among commercial and charter captains, as well as sportfisherman. All of their boats have large cockpits designed for fishing, and large engine rooms as well. With Henriques sturdy hulls, these boats accept large diesels and still have room to maintain them easily.
Henriques and staff view themselves as somewhat of a semi-custom builder. That is, they will accommodate the customer's needs and wishes where they can, within their existing model line. This lets them serve the charter boat business and the pleasure boaters with the same basic models. But these are always serious fishing boats.