Cruisers Yachts - History

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, Wisconsin. The company was originally known as "Cruisers Incorporated," or "Cruisers Inc." for short. They set up operations in the former Holt Lumber planing mill 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.