Boston Whaler

American boat manufacturer

Boston Whaler is an American boat manufacturer. It is a subsidiary of the Brunswick Boat Group, a division of the Brunswick Corporation. Boston Whalers were originally produced in Massachusetts, hence the name, but today are manufactured in Edgewater, Florida.

Richard "Dick" Fisher graduated from Harvard University in 1936. He ran a company building small, lightweight boats out of balsa wood. He designed a rowboat and got the materials to build it, but he never completed it. In the 1950s, polyurethane foam, a stiff, lightweight, buoyant material, was invented. Fisher imagined it as a replacement for the lightweight balsa used in small boat construction, and in 1954 he constructed a small sailing dinghy filled with the foam, with a design similar to the Sunfish. He showed the finished product to his friend, naval architect C. Raymond Hunt. Hunt recognized potential in the process, however he did not feel the design was particularly suited to sailboats. Instead, he created a design based on the Hickman Sea Sled featuring a cathedral hull. Fisher built a prototype out of Styrofoam and Epoxy. "It had two keels," said Fisher, "one inverted V between the runners and an anti skid, anti trip chine." Fisher tested the boat all that summer and thought it was “the greatest thing ever”. That fall, Fisher started running the boat in rough weather, and found that the hull displayed issues with handling and cavitation. Under heavy load, and off plane, the cavity in the middle of the hull forced air into the water, and then back into the prop. Fisher approached Hickman, the original designer of the wooden Sea Sled for a solution. However, Hickman thought his design needed no modifications. Fisher contemplated putting "some stuff on the bottom to move that airy water out of there." He used a method of trial and error, laying fiberglass on the bottom of the hull in the morning and running the boat behind his house when the glass cured. If the design did not work, he would bring it back to his house and start over. This prototype boat began to have a slight V bottom and the two runners on the sides. Fisher then approached Hunt to examine the design changes. Hunt added his own design changes to the prototype; most notably, a third runner in the center of the hull. Fisher then built a prototype based on this new design to serve as a plug for the production mold. Fisher and Hunt then took the boat on sea trials. One of these tests was to run the 13 feet (4 m) boat from Cohasset, Massachusetts to New Bedford and back, which is roughly 120 mile (193 km). During these sea trials, Fisher found another small flaw in the boats design: it was "wetter than hell." "A lot wetter," he said, "than the other boat had been." The reason for this, according to him, was the sole throwing spray into the boat. Since the mold was already made, it was modified by adding to the flat center between the three chines, turning it into a V shape. In 1956, this design became the original Boston Whaler 13. In 1958, boats made by the Fisher Pierce manufacturing company were first marketed and sold under the brand name Boston Whaler. The boat was very stable and had great carrying capacity. These two features, along with great performance and rough weather handling made it very desirable. Also since the Whaler was so light in weight compared to the other boats at the time, it could be propelled by lower horsepower engines. Thru the late 1980s, the classic 3.96 m Whaler, and the 4.88 m Montauk were the most popular models in terms of sales. Gradually though the company moved away from these designs to a more conventional deep vee hull, and after 1996 no more of the classic tri hull boats were manufactured. In 1969 the Boston Whaler boat operation of Fisher Pierce was sold to the CML Group, whose portfolio would eventually include brands such as NordicTrack and The Nature Company. In 1989, amidst financial problems, the CML Group sold Boston Whaler to the Reebok Corporation, where, despite several advertising campaigns and new hull designs, it did relatively poorly, and was sold to Meridian Sports in 1994. Two years later in 1996 Brunswick Corporation purchased Boston Whaler for $27.4 million in cash and debt.

While Boston Whalers are primarily seen as recreational boats, Brunswick Boats maintains a commercial division that sells Boston Whalers to coast guard and naval units worldwide. Boston Whalers were used in the Vietnam War by both the Navy SEALs and the United States Coast Guard in rescue and river patrol missions.

Current production models range in length from 11.3 to 42.5 feet (3.4 to 13.0 meters). Brunswick also owns Mercury Marine; as a result, new Boston Whalers, like all other Brunswick boats, ship from the factory already equipped with Mercury engines. Models include:

+ Current Recreational Models Name Length Layout Min HP Max HP1Tender 11.3 feet (3 m) Skiff 5 152Sport <11.3 feet (3 m) Skiff 5 253Super Sport 13 feet (4 m) Skiff 25 404Super Sport 16 feet (5 m) Skiff 75 905Montauk 15.4 feet (5 m) Center Console 40 606Montauk 17.3 feet (5 m) Center Console 90 1157Montauk 19.3 feet (6 m) Center Console 115 1508Montauk 21.3 feet (6 m) Center Console 150 2009Dauntless 17 feet (5 m) Center Console 90 11510Dauntless 18 feet (5 m) Center Console 135 15011Dauntless 21 feet (6 m) Center Console 150 20012Dauntless 24.6 feet (7 m) Center Console 250 35013Dauntless 27.8 feet (8 m) Center Console 350 60014Outrage 18.8 feet (6 m) Center Console 115 20015Outrage 23 feet (7 m) Center Console 250 35016Outrage 25.4 feet (8 m) Center Console 350 45017Outrage 28 feet (9 m) Center Console 500 80018Outrage 33 feet (10 m) Center Console 500 80019Outrage 35.7 feet (11 m) Center Console 750 1,20020Outrage 38 feet (12 m) Cuddy Cabin 900 1,60021Outrage 42.5 feet (13 m)Cuddy Cabin 1,200 1,67522Vantage 23 feet (7 m)Center Console 250 35023Vantage 28 feet (9 m)Center Console 400 60024Vantage 33.5 feet (10 m)Cuddy Cabin 500 80025Conquest 27.8 feet (8 m)Cuddy Cabin 450 50026Conquest 32.2 feet (10 m)Cuddy Cabin 600 80027Conquest 36 feet (11 m)Cuddy Cabin 750 1,20028Conquest 41.3 feet (13 m)Cuddy Cabin 1,200 1,60029Realm 35.5 feet (11 m)Cuddy Cabin 750 1,20030Realm 38 feet (12 m)Cuddy Cabin 1,200 1,600

+ Commercial Models Name Based On Length Layout Min HP Max HP Status1 Guardian Montauk 15 feet (5 m) Center Console 40 60 defunct2 Guardian Montauk 17 feet (5 m) Center Console 80 100 defunct3 Guardian Outrage 18 feet (5 m) Center Console 90 200 defunct4 Guardian Outrage 19 feet (6 m) Center Console 115 200 defunct5 Guardian Outrage 21.3 feet (6 m) Center Console 85 240 current6 Guardian Outrage 25.6 feet (8 m) Center Console 115 300 current7 Guardian Outrage 27 feet (8 m) Center Console 300 600 defunct8 Justice Conquest 20 feet (6 m) Center Console 135 250 defunct9 Justice Conquest 25.41 feet (8 m) Center Console 200 400 current10 Justice Conquest 28.41 feet (9 m) Center Console 400 500 current11 Justice Conquest 32 feet (10 m) Center Console 400 600 defunct12 Justice Conquest 37 feet (11 m) Center Console 750 900 defunct13 Challenger Conquest 27 feet (8 m) Cuddy Cabin 300 600 defunct14 Challenger Conquest 35 feet (11 m) Cuddy Cabin 300 600 defunct15 Vigilant Conquest 27 feet (8 m) Cuddy Cabin 400 450 defunct16 Protector Impact 25 feet (8 m) Center Console 450 current17 Protector Impact 30.3 feet (9 m) Center Console 900 current

Boston Whaler has, for many years, sawn boats in half to illustrate their durability, performance, smooth ride and "unsinkability". The original 1961 Life magazine ad pictured Dick Fisher sitting in a floating 13 feet (4 m) Whaler with a crosscut saw halfway through the hull. After the cut was completed, Fisher used the stern section to tow the bow section back to shore. Modern Whaler advertising uses a chain saw. Due to the foam core construction, the Whaler will remain afloat when sawed completely in half. Boston Whaler boats also remain afloat when completely swamped (full of water). Because of these attributes, Boston Whaler's trademarked sales line is "the unsinkable legend." Today, this "unsinkable" attribute is not exclusive to Boston Whalers. All motorboats (and certain other boat types) under 20 feet (6 m), manufactured for sale in the United States are required by law to have positive flotation, such that a completely swamped boat will still float. This is accomplished through the use of closed cell foam, or other non permeable material. Boston Whaler, however, does claim to exceed the Coast Guard requirements.