Cobalt Boats is an American manufacturer of recreational

motorboat 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 inter ...

s. It was founded in 1968 and operated independently until its acquisition by

Malibu Boats Malibu Boats is an American manufacturer of recreational boats, founded in Merced, California in 1982, and currently headquartered in Loudon, Tennessee with additional production facilities in New South Wales, Australia. Malibu is "the world's la ...

in 2017.

Company profile

Founded in 1968 by Pack St. Clair in

Neodesha, Kansas Neodesha is a city in Wilson County, Kansas, Wilson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,275. The name is derived from the Osage Nation, Osage word, ''Ni-o-sho-de'', ...

, Cobalt Boats manufactured "high-end speedboats", specifically "small cruisers and runabouts", and "mid- to large-sized sterndrive boats", thereafter expanding "into the surf and outboard markets", and larger family cruisers. Cobalt "began the development of its reputation for quality making stylish tri-hulls in The Seventies",Floyd Orr, ''Ker-Splash!: Recreational Power Boaters Guide'' (2002), p. 51. and continued to grow in the 1970s and 1980s. Boats built by Cobalt range from nineteen to forty feet and have Mercury or Volvo sterndrives. The company "placed a premium on meticulous construction and technical excellence in its designs", and "built their reputation on quality instead of price". with buyer-satisfaction surveys frequently ranking boats made by Cobalt "at the top of the list in all major categories". Cobalt used a variety of techniques and materials, including hulls re-enforced with

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s as ...

and

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 ...

stringers. A variety of options are available for leather and wood trim, and engine packages available from

Mercury Marine Mercury Marine is a marine engine division of Brunswick Corporation headquartered in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. The main product line is outboard motors. It also produces the MerCruiser line of sterndrives and inboard engines, as well as a li ...

and

Volvo Penta Volvo Penta is a Sweden, Swedish marine and industrial engine manufacturer, a joint stock company within the Volvo, Volvo Group. Volvo Penta evolved from a foundry in Skövde 1907, when the first marine automobile engine, marine engine, the B ...

. It maintained in-house design and tooling. The number of engines and outdrives available for each model has been described as extensive for the powerboat market. As of 2017, Cobalt was producing over 2,000 boats per year in its Neodesha facility, and for the 12 month period ending March 31, 2017, Cobalt "generated approximately $140 million in net sales" selling 24 boat models "through a dealer network of 132 locations in the United States, Canada, and overseas".

Intellectual property

Cobalt has a portfolio of

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

in its field, having won a patent infringement lawsuit against

Brunswick Corporation Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick has more than 13,000 employees in ...

, parent company of Sea Ray Boats, over a popular "'retractable swim step', a partially submerged platform off the rear of the boat that allows boat passengers to easily enter and exit the water". The infringed patent was upheld in inter partes review, including claims reciting the "spring-biased locking mechanism" key to operation of the Cobalt swim step, and the infringement judgment was upheld in the

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is one of the 13 United States courts of appeals. It has special appellate jurisdiction over certain categories of cases in the U.S. federa ...

in September 2017.

Acquisition by Malibu Boats

In July 2017, competitor

acquired Cobalt Boats in a deal "valued at $130 million", with Malibu maintaining Cobalt's manufacturing operations in

, and adding Cobalt CEO Paxson St. Clair to its board of directors. Malibu had been seeking an acquisition of this type for three to four years before the purchase. Malibu indicated that it would continue the Cobalt brand and maintain a substantial presence in Neodesha.

References

{{reflist American boat builders American companies established in 1968 Manufacturing companies based in Kansas Wilson County, Kansas