THE
EVOLUTION OF THE RUNABOUT
This is the second and final part of "The Evolution of the
Runabout", an article which first appeared in Motor Boating magazine in
January, 1940. As you recall, part one chronicled the development of the
V-bottom boat in the period prior to the First World War. Part Two continues
with the rapid changes in design resulting from the new technologies of the
First World War, concluding with a state of the art assessment of the runabout
in 1939.
Early in 1919 the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company, which had been building
airplane engines during the war, announced a new high speed marine engine in
two models, a four-cylinder of 125 horsepower, weighing 1070 pounds, and a
six-cylinder of 200 horsepower weighing 1300 pounds. John L. Hacker designed
and built the first two runabouts for these engines. These were 28-footers,
N'Everthin' for Al Pack of East Chicago, Indiana, and Miss Los Angeles for
Dustin Farnum, famous actor of stage and screen. Both of these boats were
sensationally successful. N'Ever-thin' was sold to W. A. Kemp of Detroit and
later that year set a new official A.P.B.A. runabout record of 36.40 miles per
hour for 10 miles in competition. Miss Los Angeles won six cups on the Pacific
Coast that same year, including the famous Nordlinger trophy. Early in the
same summer Chris Smith of Algonac installed a 12-cylinder 450 horsepower
Liberty engine conversion in a 28-foot runabout Miss Nassau and sold it to C.
W. Johnston of Cleveland. We believe that this one was one of the first, if
not the first, Liberty engine to be installed in a runabout and was,
unquestionably, the first runabout to attain 50 miles per hour. In the fall of
1919, E. W. Gregory of the Belle Isle Boat and Engine Company, Detroit, bought
four 26-foot standardized runabout hulls from the Hacker Boat Company. Six of
these boats had been designed and built by John L. Hacker for 90 horsepower
Sterling engines. The first of these boats had been powered with a Sterling
and sold to Paul Strasburg of Detroit and the second went to B. C. Scott,
president of the Hall-Scott Motor Car Company, and was shipped to California.
This boat was powered with one of the new six-cylinder Hall-Scott engines and
proved sensationally fast, easily attaining 40 miles per hour. Mr. Gregory
thought, however, that 200 horsepower was too much for a boat of this length
and, with four boats to sell, decided to use four-cylinder Hall-Scott engines
of 125 horsepower and fit them with forward cockpits and complete forward
control.
The idea worked out splendidly and resulted in the famous Belle Isle Bear Cat,
a type which revolutionized
the runabout style. The boat was a sensation from the day it was launched and
the Bell Isle Boat and Engine Company attained national prominence in the
field, exhibiting at the New York Show in 1920.
Looking back at this particular boat, from the viewpoint of 1939, it seems
peculiar that the idea did not sweep the country but, like many other notable
improvements, it was several years before other builders recognized its worth.
Early in 1922 Chris Smith and his sons severed their connection with Gar Wood
and started up a small shop at Algonac under the name of Chris Smith and Sons
Boat Company. This shop still stands as a small unit of the present huge
Chris-Craft plant. Their first boat was a 26-footer, supplied in either double
cockpit style with forward control or with single cockpit aft. It was powered
with a four-cylinder converted Hall-Scott airplane engine and was priced
originally at $3950 complete, a price much below the figure quoted on the
26-foot Bear Cat. The Hacker Boat Company also came out with a 26-foot
runabout using the same type of power plant.
This same year the Belle Isle Boat and Engine Company brought out the first
runabout with a double cockpit, seating four persons forward of the engine.
The following year, 1923, brought added rivalry and really marked the
beginning of large production in runabouts. John L. Hacker, one of the pioneer
designers and builders, had been building a small number of boats each year.
Now he increased production and began to specialize on a line of standardized
runabouts of distinctly modern type.
The Smiths, in the meantime, had adopted the name Chris-Craft and had begun to
work out their plans for large production by standardizing on the Curtiss
airplane type of engine, doing their own conversion work. This enabled them to
reduce prices and they offered the new model at the remarkably low price of
$3200 complete. They had the right idea.
The following year showed a tremendous gain in runabout popularity and marked
the entry of Horace E. Dodge into the boatbuilding field with a standardized
boat. The season ended in a blaze of glory for Chris-Craft, no less than 19 of
these boats starting in a special invitation race during the Gold Cup regatta
at Detroit in September. It was the greatest number of one-design runabouts
which had ever started in a race and made a wonderful impression.
GEORGE F. CROUCH, one of the pioneer runabout designers, entered the employ
of Horace E. Dodge in December 1924 and immediately began plans for large
scale production. At first the only boat was a 22-footer, powered with a
converted Dodge automobile engine, but in 1926 a 26-foot double cockpit
runabout was announced, powered with a converted Curtiss airplane engine of
similar type to that used by Chris-Craft. In the meantime the Hacker Boat
Company had continued to use genuine marine engines, mostly Kermaths, and the
Belle Isle Boat and Engine Company had dropped the 26-foot Bear Cat and were
building a new 30-foot model powered with a 200 horsepower Hall-Scott motor.
The New York Motor Boat Show of 1926 found the Chris-Craft runabout on display
for the first time. Previously it had been barred because of the use of a
converted airplane engine, but 1926 found the Chris-Craft powered with a new
Kermath marine engine of six-cylinder type, rated 150 horsepower and marking
Kermath's entry into the high-speed field. Now that it may be told it is
interesting to relate that this first Kermath, as installed in the Chris-Craft
at the Show; was a dummy, the engine never having been tested. In a few weeks,
however, Kermaths of 150 horsepower were in production. The Scripps Motor
Company also introduced a 150 horsepower engine this same year.
Gar Wood Inc., had been building a few runabouts each year ever since taking
over
the old C. C. Smith Boat and Engine Company, but most of their attention was
devoted to the conversion of Liberty and Fiat airplane engines. The Baby Gar
type 33-foot runabout had been highly developed, however, and for a number of
years had been the highest powered and fastest stock runabout on the market.
It was powered with a 12-cylinder 450 horsepower Liberty engine and sold for
approximately $10,OOO. No attempt had been made to go into large production
with this boat. The Baby Gar type featured the use of a gear drive and was,
unquestionably, the first stock runabout to show speeds of better than 50
miles per hour.
THE 1927 New York Motor Boat Show marked the entry of Gar Wood into the small
runabout field with a 26-footer, known as the Baby Gar Jr., selling at $3500
to $4000, and a 28-footer at $6000. Chris-Craft introduced a 22-footer, the
smallest Chris-Craft up to that time. Originally this was powered with a
four-cylinder Kermath rated at 70 horsepower, but early that year the new
Chrysler Imperial made its initial bow and was adopted as the standard power
plant for this boat which had a speed of 32-35 mph. To furnish some idea of
the tremendous strides made by the standardized runabout it is interesting to
note that Chris-Craft built and sold more than $500,000 worth of
Chrysler-powered boats that summer. The runabout building industry went along
smoothly until the fall of 1929 when the well-known depression came along and
changed the whole picture. In 1930 the smaller runahouts came into prominence
with the introduction by Horace E. Dodge of a 16-footer, which had a speed of
30 miles per hour and was priced at $945. Other builders were inclined to
scoff at Dodge, but we know now that he had the right idea. This same year
Chris-Craft produced a 20-footer and the Dee-Wite Company introduced 16- and
19-footers. At the New York Show of 1930 only 18 of the 67 runabouts on
display were 20 feet or less in length, but in 1931 almost half of the 54
runabouts shown were in this class. Chris-Craft displayed a snappy little
craft of only 15 feet 6 inches length and another of only 17 feet.
The following year Chris-Craft startled the industry with a 16-footer at the
astonishingly
low price of $795 and Gar Wood came out with a low-priced 18-footer. But the
all-time low was reached in 1934 with at least six different builders offering
models of approximately 16 feet in length, all guaranteed to do 30 miles per
hour or better, at prices ranging from $645 to $895.
Since 1935 prices have been going up gradually, but the builders have been
giving increased values through the use of engines of greater horsepower and
much higher speeds. Ten years ago the 16-foot runabouts were powered with
engines averaging about 50 to 60 horsepower, but to-day it is not at all
unusual to find 16-footers powered with 125 horsepower and even more and
capable of considerably better than 40 miles per hour. Slightly larger, the
18- and 19-footers of to-day carry up to as high as 180 horsepower and the
speed record stands at better than 50 miles per hour, yet they sell for a
small fraction of the prices charged for the popular 26-foot 40-miler of only
a decade ago. And so, as we look back over the development of the runabout as
we know it today we marvel at the changes which have taken place and wonder
what the future holds. Is there any room for future development or have we
reached the limit?