His designs became the model upon which virtually all subsequent runabouts were based. Hacker was a pioneering naval architect who developed many design innovations, like the 'V-bottom'. Hacker, who founded the Hacker Boat Company in 1908. A remote lever to allow the engines to be placed into a reverse gear was another early innovation.Īmong the leading builders of 1920s runabouts was John L. Another design change which followed soon after was the replacement of the tiller and rudder control with a rudder controlled by a steering wheel, allowing the operator a comfortable forward-facing position. In order to gain speed, the hull shape had to be designed to take advantage of hydroplaning a hydrofoil-like design would allow the boat to skim atop the water's surface at high speed instead of needing to push aside large quantities of water to move forward. The first runabouts date back to the 1920s and were originally small, fast, powerful, varnished, wooden boats created to take advantage of the power of outboard motors such as the first Evinrude, introduced in 1909. The world's largest runabout, Pardon Me, is 48 feet long and owned by the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.

Some common runabout types are bow rider, center console, cuddy boat and walkaround.

Characteristically between 20' and 35' in length, runabouts are used for pleasure activities like boating, fishing, and water skiing, as a ship's tender for larger vessels, or in racing. In the back is a portion of the 106' houseboat LaDuchesse, both are located at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.Ī runabout is any small motorboat holding between four and eight people, well suited to moving about on the water. The 48' Hackercraft Pardon Me built by Hutchinson Boat Works of Alexandria Bay, New York.

55 chris craft runabout