Hacker-Craft is the name given to boats built by The Hacker Boat Co., the oldest builder of wooden motorboats in the world today. It is an American company, founded in Watervliet, New York on 12 August 1908 by John Ludwig Hacker (known as John L. Hacker or just "John L."). Hacker-Craft has been called the 'Bentley' of motorboats and the company continues to produce hand-built boats in Silver Bay, on the shores of Lake George (New York), the scene of many of John Hacker's water speed records and racing triumphs.
John L. Hacker (1877–1961) is considered to have been one of the world's pre-eminent naval architects and the greatest American motorboat designer of the 20th century. His major design and engineering accomplishments include the invention of the 'v-hull' design and the floating bi-plane (for the Wright brothers). Over his impressive six-decade career, John Hacker enjoyed the distinction of having designed and built more successes in speed craft than all the other builders combined.
John L. Hacker (1877–1961) is considered to have been one of the world's pre-eminent naval architects and the greatest American motorboat designer of the 20th century. His major design and engineering accomplishments include the invention of the 'v-hull' design and the floating bi-plane (for the Wright brothers). Over his impressive six-decade career, John Hacker enjoyed the distinction of having designed and built more successes in speed craft than all the other builders combined.
John L. Hacker, The Early Years
Hacker Craft's logo, hand-painted in gold leaf onto the side of a mahogany runabout
John L. Hacker was born on May 24, 1877. For four years, while working at his fathers business as a book-keeper, he attended night school and took a correspondence course in order to become an accredited marine designer. Once qualified (at the age of 22) he set about solving a number of problems which inhibited speed and performance in motor boats of the time. Pleasure boats of the 1900 era were all narrow, round bottomed launches which ploughed through the water instead of planing over it as boats do nowadays. Hacker’s first major task in boat design was to try and solve the problem of “squatting,” which occurred with all the canoe-stern shaped powerboats of the 1900s. His theory was that if his boats were going to go fast, they would have to “plane” rather than plough through the water, but the tendency to plane was considered a highly dangerous mode which was to be avoided at all costs. Nonetheless, he built a test craft to prove his new theories - a 30’ runabout - which incorporated a significant number of innovations: the boat had its prop mounted under the transom as well as its rudder and a strut was used to position the shaft into place. The boat also featured Hacker’s revolutionary ‘V’-hull design which produced stunning speed and efficiency at low horsepower. In 1904, he designed ‘Au Revoir’, the fastest boat in the world at the time and on August 12, 1908, building on this success, he founded the Hacker Boat Company in Watervliet, New York. Coincidentally, this was the same day on which the first ever 'Model T' Ford automobile was produced by his great friend, Henry Ford.
His designs led to many advances which today’s boat owners take for granted, but John Hackers’ unique combination of design flair and engineering brilliance led him to create the shape and style which was to become the signature look of American speedboats.The list of his successes would easily make a who's who list of the greatest wooden boats ever built: Pardon Me, the Minute Man, Thunderbird, El Lagarto, Bootlegger, Peerless, Dolphin, Kitty Hawk, Tempo VI, the Belle Isle Bear Cats, My Sweetie.
Hacker Craft's logo, hand-painted in gold leaf onto the side of a mahogany runabout
John L. Hacker was born on May 24, 1877. For four years, while working at his fathers business as a book-keeper, he attended night school and took a correspondence course in order to become an accredited marine designer. Once qualified (at the age of 22) he set about solving a number of problems which inhibited speed and performance in motor boats of the time. Pleasure boats of the 1900 era were all narrow, round bottomed launches which ploughed through the water instead of planing over it as boats do nowadays. Hacker’s first major task in boat design was to try and solve the problem of “squatting,” which occurred with all the canoe-stern shaped powerboats of the 1900s. His theory was that if his boats were going to go fast, they would have to “plane” rather than plough through the water, but the tendency to plane was considered a highly dangerous mode which was to be avoided at all costs. Nonetheless, he built a test craft to prove his new theories - a 30’ runabout - which incorporated a significant number of innovations: the boat had its prop mounted under the transom as well as its rudder and a strut was used to position the shaft into place. The boat also featured Hacker’s revolutionary ‘V’-hull design which produced stunning speed and efficiency at low horsepower. In 1904, he designed ‘Au Revoir’, the fastest boat in the world at the time and on August 12, 1908, building on this success, he founded the Hacker Boat Company in Watervliet, New York. Coincidentally, this was the same day on which the first ever 'Model T' Ford automobile was produced by his great friend, Henry Ford.
His designs led to many advances which today’s boat owners take for granted, but John Hackers’ unique combination of design flair and engineering brilliance led him to create the shape and style which was to become the signature look of American speedboats.The list of his successes would easily make a who's who list of the greatest wooden boats ever built: Pardon Me, the Minute Man, Thunderbird, El Lagarto, Bootlegger, Peerless, Dolphin, Kitty Hawk, Tempo VI, the Belle Isle Bear Cats, My Sweetie.
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