Since the early twentieth century, boaters from all walks of life have plied the waters of the world in various watercraft. Perhaps the most elegant of these craft are the gentlemen’s runabouts that maintained their popularity throughout much of the century. Generally built of mahogany, these boats were popular both for their good looks, quality of construction, and performance. They have evolved over the years into one of the most sought-after status symbols in the nautical world. This report will cover the history of the production craft in this genre and include special design details involved in these particular vessels.

BACKGROUND

Power boating is firmly rooted in racing, where the design and engineering of boats and engines started. Many famous names were involved in the building of the wooden hydroplanes of the early 1900s. Often powered by the relatively powerful aircraft engines of the day, Gold Cup style racers (Fig. 1) were capable of speeds up to 70 miles per hour. As interest in the races increased, boating became more and more popular.

Gold Cup boats were vastly more expensive than most could afford, and they were hardly suited for family use, with their huge engines and poor handling. However, a more civilized runabout with good performance and more comfort could be custom built by any of several established boat companies. Despite their appeal, custom cruisers could only be found in small numbers and were still well out of the price range that could qualify them as anything but a luxury.

Pleasure power boating began, for most, in the late 1910s. Prior to that time, the engines available to boatbuilders were not reliable and simply too large to be used practically in the marine environment. Production boats were unheard of, and the cost of building a boat was far too high for the majority of the population. Even the mighty Henry Ford, having pioneered mass production, could not carry out his plan to produce boats that would carry a Model-T engine and be sold at Ford dealerships nation wide.

Southern Michigan was the hotbed of activity in the boating industry during most of the first half of the twentieth century, and Christopher Columbus Smith was a major reason for it. His Algonac, Michigan, operation built steam launches in the late nineteenth century and assorted custom launches, tenders, and runabouts until 1910. In that year, Smith joined forces with J.J. Ryan to form the Smith-Ryan Boat and Engine Company. Chris Smith, as his contemporaries knew him, began designing and building boats in a semi-production environment at the Smith-Ryan factory in Algonac.

THE TWENTIES

However, the Detroit area would see the first production boat, built by Edgar M. Gregory at his family yard, the Belle Isle Boat Company. (1:197) This tiny yard built the first production boat ever in 1920: a 28 footer with a Van Blerck engine and a price tag comparable to a small home. Later that year Gregory released the 28-foot Belle Isle Bear Cat, which had a 200-horsepower Hall-Scott engine. Capable of better than 35 miles per hour, the Bear Cat had a cockpit arrangement similar to that of John L. Hacker’s custom runabouts.

Just a few miles west, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, Hacker watched as orders for Gregory’s Bear Cat rolled in. Hacker was the man behind the design of the gentleman’s runabout, with its multiple cockpits, low profile, and solid performance. Not one to be outdone, Hacker started the Hacker Boat Company in 1920. His first production offering, a 21 foot, 5 inch model with a 20 horsepower Kermath, was fully rigged from the factory and sold for $1,975. The Gregory Bear Cat could not compete with the Hacker’s lower price, but the large engine and more luxurious fittings of the Bear Cat allowed it to remain a viable member of the market.

In 1922, however, Chris Smith overshadowed the Belle Isle Boat Company and Hacker Craft, with the reorganization of his fledgling company. Operating as Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company, 24 boats were built in the first year. Two years later, the company adopted the "Chris-Craft" name, which would carry the company until the present. Smith’s production doubled approximately every year between 1922 and 1928, when 830 boats rolled out of the factory. Built of Philippine mahogany in lengths up to 26 feet and equipped with all the necessary hardware and upholstery for use by up to 10 passengers, Smith’s Chris-Crafts quickly became the industry standard and the most common boats on the water.

The mid-twenties would see another player enter the field. Garfield Arthur Wood, a Gold Cup winner in Chris Smith and Hacker designed boats, had watched from the sideline as boat production increased. His experience and background formed the impetus for the Gar Wood speedboat. Built in Wood’s Marysville, Michigan, shop, the Gar Wood was the highest performance offering available to the public in the twenties. The Baby Gar, as Wood’s boats were known, was the flagship of all runabouts: they were widely considered the best built, best performing, most beautiful, and, not surprisingly, most expensive boats on the water.

By the late twenties, several builders were producing boats in large quantities. However, the Hacker Boat Company, Gar Wood, and Chris-Craft asserted themselves as the front-runners in the industry. Chris-Craft, especially, had found a niche and produced more boats from 1926 through 1928 than all others combined. (2:1) Any boat designer who wished to remain in the mainstream had joined the trend toward these sleek craft. Uffa Fox, a naval architect of the early twentieth century noted for to his work with sailboats, designed and built a runabout for use on Lake Constance, Germany. (Fig. 2) He noted that the 9-meter runabout was both practical and good-looking, and its use abroad asserted the international appeal of the style. (3:167)

Most of the runabouts being built featured a concave hull with a fine entry that tapered off to a tumblehome transom with minimal deadrise. Power was provided, with literally no exceptions, from an inboard engine placed amidships. In twin-cockpit boats, the engine space was between the fore and aft cockpits. Triple-cockpit boats, such as the Hacker 35, placed two connected cockpits forward, the engine amidships, and a small cockpit near the stern. Due to the full-beam engine compartments, fore and aft cockpits were not connected and thus somewhat impractical, however, this arrangement was the standard of the day for large craft. The engine placement and the relatively flat bottom yielded fairly level riding angles, although rough water comfort was sacrificed to provide better speed. Rack and pinion steering offered ease of operation and good response to the helm, a luxury at the time. Additionally, the rudder was placed fully aft, providing excellent cornering and superb control.

THE THIRTIES

By the 1930s, the wooden runabout was a fixture in the boating industry. It had established itself as the preferred family boat, and the most affordable entry into the world of boating. Chris-Craft had released its most popular model line-up ever in 1930: a range that featured eleven runabouts and several large cruisers, up to 48 feet in length. (4:99) These boats were stylish and comfortable, could achieve speeds of up to 35 miles per hour, and were constructed to last a lifetime. Their dominance of the market was unparalleled and has not been repeated since.

Unfortunately for the booming boat business, the stock market crash of 1929 caught up with the industry in the mid-thirties. Sales plummeted, cash supplies dropped, employees were laid off, and all but the largest shops were forced to close in the years from 1933 to 1935.

Despite the huge losses taken by the companies involved, the year 1936 saw the industry pick up where it had left off three years earlier. Gar Wood built 150 boats in Marysville that year, his best year ever. Chris-Craft had weathered the storm by selling "Utility" models which were little more than a hull and engine, but the sales brought in kept the company solvent during the depression.

Sales and production of the mahogany runabout leveled off in the late thirties. The boating blitz of the previous twenty years had ended, and automobiles were becoming the performance vehicles of choice. Then, in the fall of 1939, Christopher Columbus Smith died, at the age of 78. Under his control, the company that bore his name had become the largest builder of motor boats in the world.

THE FORTIES AND FIFTIES

Even though sales had slowed somewhat and the pioneer of the runabout had died, the sport he had made popular lived on. The forties saw new models and new developments in all aspects. Engines were increasing in power and decreasing in size, and luxury was taking new forms. Hacker and Gar Wood had fitted their recent models with leather seating in up to three cockpits, started using bronze for all deck hardware and windshields, and had even gone as far as offering a built-in ice chest on the largest models. Such opulence was well received in the early part of the decade, but World War II forced a shift in production to less luxurious craft, which were better suited to the wartime market. Chris-Craft was converted to a nearly all-metal builder, producing countless landing craft, barges, and patrol boats for the Navy. However, the volume of construction during the war allowed the company to form factories in Cadillac and Holland, Michigan. The government urged most boat manufacturers to maintain normal production, though. Recreation was seen as an important way to keep up morale, and few activities catered to this need as well as boating. Companies like Hacker Craft, Gar Wood, and an upstart operation named Century were glad to oblige.

The postwar decades were prosperous times for the boating industry, as the booming economy caused boats to be purchased in record numbers. Runabouts did not fare well from this prosperity, unfortunately. Large cruisers and commuters became the boat of choice as horizons were expanded and the sport evolved. Overnighters became the focus at Chris-Craft, and most builders of mahogany runabouts were forced to cut production. Virtually the only new runabout that developed any interest was the 1955 Chris-Craft Cobra, (Fig. 3) which was offered with up to 285 horsepower - power previously available only in custom craft. The Cobra symbolizes, to many, the gentleman’s runabout, with its unique styling, unmatched speed, and, because only 161 were built, rarity. Ironically, the Cobra signaled the beginning of the end for the classic mahogany runabout: their deck and large, signature fin were built of fiberglass.

As the roaring fifties came to a close, the sun all but set on the wooden runabout. Fiberglass models could be had that offered better performance, less maintenance, and boasted a lower price. Life was temporarily breathed back into the industry in the early sixties, when an Italian company rejuvenated interest in the class. Riva’s Aquarama was the most luxurious iteration of a runabout ever built. The boats, of which only a handful could be built per year, were sold to kings and the wealthiest citizens in the world as the ultimate water toy. The Aquarama generated interest worldwide in the wooden boat, which had been brushed to the wayside with the onset of fiberglass. Unfortunately, the tide had turned and fiberglass captured the market almost completely. Wooden boat builders either closed their doors or retooled to produce fiberglass, as Chris-Craft and Century did. Hacker Craft and Gar Wood continued to produce runabouts, but they were forced back to semi-production or custom status within a few years. Their products no longer offered the panache that they once had and were now too expensive to compete on the showroom floor.

THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES

This decline carried over to the seventies, and, with the death of Garfield Wood in 1971, a chapter of boating history closed. Riva’s Aquarama was the only production boat left, but four copies a year and a list price in the hundreds of thousands of dollars put it in a class by itself. Some hobbyists found it profitable to produce a few boats a year, on an order by order basis. The boats that had graced lakes nationwide were now condemned, in many cases, to dry rot in the barns or backyards of their owners. A few owners kept, and maintained, their boats for use on the water each summer. It did not take long, however, before the mahogany runabout became an antiquated symbol of boating’s past. When Gar Wood died in 1971, the sport of boating lost its biggest figure. Wood’s death marked the passing of the last of the original builders of the wooden runabouts which are responsible for the popularity of the sport of boating today.

PRESENT STATUS

Other than a few strongholds where wooden boats found a safe-haven in the form of owner’s clubs and restoration shops, these beautiful speedsters disappeared from sight almost completely for fifteen years, until, in the 1980s, they regained their lost popularity. Dick Sligh, of Holland, Michigan, formed Macatawa Bay Boat Works and began production of a copy of the venerable 1930 twin-cockpit, 24-foot Chris-Craft, sold under the Grand Craft nameplate. (5:54) This first model, known as the Baby Grand, bears almost complete resemblance to the original from which it is copied. After some years in hibernation, Hacker Craft were made available again, from a company on New York’s Lake George called Morgan Marine. (6:53) The owner, William Morgan, had purchased the rights to the Hacker name some years earlier. Tom and Larry Turcotte started building mahogany runabouts and sold them under the name GarWood – changing the name slightly but maintaining the workmanship of Garfield Wood’s Baby Gars. More recently, in 1989, Chris Smith, one of C.C. Smith’s grandsons, formed the Chris-Craft Mahogany Runabout Company to build a limited number of replicas of the same 24-foot Chris-Craft that had brought success to Sligh’s Grand Craft. (7:40)

The new era in mahogany boats brought with it several advancements, but the most important change was in the engine compartment. Whereas the most powerful runabout ever, the Chris-Craft Cobra, had been equipped with 285 horsepower, the new breed of runabouts starts out with around 250 horsepower. Many larger, multi-cockpit models are fitted with a pair of 300-plus horsepower engines. Their construction, although still classic by today’s standards, has been modernized to improve strength, lower maintenance requirements, and shave precious pounds from the hulls. Due to the politics involved with the importing process, Honduran wood has replaced Philippine wood, but little else has changed. Modernization has occurred only in areas where it would be beneficial – the hull form and designs remain unchanged. Seating surfaces are still covered in leather and deck fittings are still made of bronze. Electronics have been upgraded to meet modern standards and some mechanical aspects, such as steering, have been improved in these new-era classics. Contrary to popular belief, these boats were, and are, priced very similarly to their fiberglass counterparts.

However, for those members of the boating community who desire a vessel completely out of the ordinary, many shops build custom mahogany runabouts and tenders. Perhaps the most glamorous, luxurious example of this is Mahogany, (Fig. 4) the 40 foot marvel GarWood built in 1994 for Milton Ferrell, Jr. of Miami. The renowned naval architectural firm C. Raymond Hunt Associates designed the hull, which, at 40 feet, broke new ground for runabouts. Her narrow beam (just 8 feet 6 inches at the waterline) increased deadrise to 18 degrees, giving much improved ride quality in waves. Twin MerCruiser gas inboards rated at 800 horsepower each provide a top speed of 42 knots and a 33-knot cruise. (8:34) In keeping with the Gar Wood tradition, Mahogany is fitted and rigged to perfection – no expense is spared anywhere on the boat. Consequently, the price tag for this majestic runabout is nearly half a million dollars. Other boats can be purchased, but none offer the head-turning beauty of a mahogany hull.

For forty years, from the mid-1910s until the mid-1950s, the gentleman’s runabout dominated the boating world. From the racecourse to casual Sunday afternoon rides on the nearest lake or river, mahogany runabouts were the preferred vessel of boating enthusiasts worldwide. Their superior performance and quality made them the best boat available in the early twentieth century, and their sleek styling and natural beauty make them a sought-after prize today.

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