Cruisers yachts
Encyclopedia
Oconto, Wisconsin
Oconto is a city in Oconto County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,708 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located partially within the town of Oconto.-History:...
. Most models in the 2009 lineup are offered with both gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
and diesel engine
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
options, and the company was one of the first boat builders to utilize the Volvo Penta
Volvo Penta
Volvo Penta was founded in 1907 in conjunction with the production of the first marine engine, B1. The Penta company soon became an established internal combustion engine manufacturer, which in 1927 delivered the engine to Volvo's first passenger car....
IPS propulsion system.
History
The company was founded in 1953 in Oconto by Ray, Glenn, brothers Roy and Grant, and brothers Bob and Ted Thompson. They were second generation members of the Thompson family, involved in boat building at Peshtigo, WI and Cortland NY. Roy and Grant were following in their father Chris's footsteps, as he had co-founded the Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg. Company in 1904 in nearby Peshtigo, WisconsinPeshtigo, Wisconsin
Peshtigo is a city in Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,357 at the 2000 census. The city is located within the Town of Peshtigo. It is part of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area...
. The company was originally known as "Cruisers Incorporated," or "Cruisers Inc." for short. They set up operations in the former Holt Lumber planing mill
Planing mill
A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and seasoned boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the planer and matcher, the molding machines, and varieties of saws...
in Oconto. In the first year of operation, Cruisers constructed 14 and 16 foot lapstrake boats, and sold them to the Thompson Bros. Boat Mfg Co. with the Thompson name badge on the hulls. The first shipment left the Oconto factory on November 18, 1953. The first cabin-cruiser model was a 19-foot 3-inch lapstrake boat, which was introduced at the 1954 New York Boat Show; she featured a sink, alcohol stove, water closet, cushioned bunks to sleep four, cabin lights and a collapsible table.
In 1956, the first Cruisers product catalog debuted. The company was producing 60 boats per week then, and the work force had grown from 20 to 101, over 5 times its size, in just three years. By 1961, 300 people were employed at the company. At this time they were producing 12 different models, ranging from 14 feet - 20 feet long. Cruisers claimed to be the foremost lapstrake boat builder in the world. In 1959 and 1960, they made 3,000 boats annually. Then the bottom fell out of the wooden-boat market.
A reorganization of the three Thompson family owned boat plants at Peshtigo, Cortland, NY and Oconto went into effect on 1 January 1959. Cruisers, Inc. became the sole property of Roy and Grant Thompson. Ray Thompson and family gained control of Thompson Bros. boat Mfg. Co. at Peshtigo. A new corporation was formed at Cortland, NY to run that operation; Thompson Boat Company of New York, Inc. with Bob, Ted and Glenn Thompson as owners.
As fiberglass boats hit the scene, customers abandoned wooden vessels en masse. Cruisers resisted the change, with the Thompsons believing firmly that a well-built wooden boat would outperform and outlive any fiberglass version of itself. Cruisers sold less than 800 boats in the 1965 season, and wooden boats were eliminated from the line by the end of 1966.
Cruisers Yachts Today
In the early 1990s, the boat building business suffered as the economy worsened. Venture Capitalist K.C. Stock, an experienced businessman in the Oconto area, saw potential in the struggling company and knew that if the biggest employer in the town were to close, it would be devastating to the town's economy. In 1993, his company KCS International purchased the company and re-named it Cruisers Yachts. Soon after, the industry saw an upswing in sales and an increasing demand that took the marine industry by storm. The company flourished and expanded its model lineup year after year. Today, the company builds express cruiserExpress Cruiser
An Express Cruiser is a fast cruising boat. To distinguish it from a cabin cruiser boat, it has a full head, a galley, sleeping space with two to six berths...
and flybridge style yachts, and has recently offered a couple new models that fit into the new sport coupe class of express boat. The company currently employs approximately 1,000 people, with an annual sales figure exceeding $94 million.