Chris-Craft Boats was an American boat manufacturer founded by Christopher Columbus Smith (1861–1939). The company was sold by the Smith family in 1960 to

NAFI Corporation Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly held American corporation that was traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. In 1962, the company adopted the name of one of its acquisitions, Chri ...

, which changed its name to

Chris-Craft Industries Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly held American corporation that was traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. In 1962, the company adopted the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris ...

in 1962. The current successor is

Chris-Craft Corporation Chris-Craft Corporation is an American manufacturer of recreational powerboats that is based in Sarasota, Florida. Since June 4, 2018, the company has been owned by Winnebago Industries, an American manufacturer of recreational vehicles.Galvin, ...

, which produces motorboats under the Chris-Craft name.

History

Chris Smith built his first wooden boat in 1874 at the age of 13. Years later, he built a duck hunting boat. His friends liked the way he built them, and they asked him to build them one. This was technically the start of the boat company. He soon began to build more boats and joined his brother Hank in 1881 to begin producing boats full-time. In 1910, the brothers joined with other partners to form the Smith Ryan Boat Company. The firm's name was changed in 1922 to Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company, then to Chris-Craft in 1924. The

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

-area company became well known for its sleek racing boats in the 1910s and 1920s. Chris-Craft sold high-end powerboats to wealthy patrons such as

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

and

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

. In the late 1920s, Chris-Craft extended its market into the

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

when it became one of the first mass-producers of civilian pleasure boats. Formerly, most powerboats had been hand-built. The company began

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

production at their plant in

Algonac, Michigan Algonac ( ) is a city in St. Clair County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,196 at the 2020 census. Incorporated as a village in 1867 and again as a city in 1967, Algonac is located at the southern end of the St. Clair River a ...

, on the

St. Clair River The St. Clair River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron into Lake St. Clair, forming part ...

, dramatically lowering production costs.

Engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

were supplied by both Ford and Chrysler, and by the Hercules Engine Company in later models. In 1927, the company introduced the ''Cadet,'' an affordable 22' runabout. At the time, the domain of

speedboat 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 intern ...

s was largely confined to the wealthy. Its innovative advertising campaign promised a piece of "the good life" to the growing

American middle class Though the American middle class does not have a definitive definition, contemporary social scientists have put forward several ostensibly congruent theories on it. Depending on the class model used, the middle class constitutes anywhere from 25% ...

. The company sold its boats on an installment plan, making them among the first powerboats available to the general population. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

robbed many Americans of

discretionary income Disposable income is total personal income minus current taxes on income. In national accounting, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income or household disposable income. Subtracting personal outlays ( ...

, and Chris-Craft sales suffered. The company introduced a line of low-priced powerboats to stay solvent. By 1935, a 15.5' utility boat sold for as little as US$406 ($ in dollars ). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the company produced small patrol boats and launches for the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. After the war, Chris-Craft introduced a new lineup of civilian pleasure boats in time for the massive American consumer expansion of the 1950s. That decade marked the height of company prestige, and the Chris-Craft brand name became virtually synonymous with pleasure boating. The company offered 159 different models, and it was the sales leader in many categories of small civilian powerboats. Chris Crafts were considered to be among the finest available, popular with famous customers such as

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress whose Katharine Hepburn on screen and stage, career as a Golden Age of Hollywood, Hollywood leading lady spanned six decades. She was known for her headstrong ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

. Made from

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

and featuring liberal

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

and

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

, they were easy to operate by weekend boaters. Chris-Craft manufactured its first

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 ...

boat by 1955. The company added a metal boat division in 1957, designated as the Roamer Steel Boats Division (RSBD). This was founded upon its purchase of the Roamer Boat Company, and the boats became known as Chris Craft Roamers. The company was acquired by Shields & Company's NAFI Corporation in 1960, but continued to operate independently. Chris-Craft Industries sold its boat division to Murray Industries in 1981, while retaining the Chris-Craft trademark and licensed it to Murray.

Outboard Marine Corporation Outboard Marine Corporation (OMC) was a maker of Evinrude Outboard Motors, Evinrude, Johnson Outboards, Johnson and Gale Outboard Motors, and many different brands of boats. It was a multibillion-dollar Fortune 500 corporation. Evinrude began in ...

acquired the boat company in 1989, then went into bankruptcy in 2000 and was purchased by Genmar Holdings. Genmar sold the Chris-Craft boat division to Stellican Ltd., then Stellican purchased the Chris-Craft trademark from

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

, thus reuniting the two parts of the boat company.

References

External links

{{Commonscat, position=left, Chris-Craft American boat builders Manufacturing companies established in 1910 1910 establishments in Michigan 1960 mergers and acquisitions Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1962 1962 disestablishments in Michigan American companies established in 1910 American companies disestablished in 1962 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Michigan Chris-Craft Industries