Chris-Craft Bowrider Boats

Chris-Craft has been building boats in United States since 1874, and like almost every long-lived boat builder the story starts small: a workshop, a handful of tradespeople, and local customers who wanted something better than what they could buy. The early boats were built for the water on the doorstep, which is why the brand's hulls still carry the fingerprints of that home coastline decades later. As volumes grew, hand-built one-offs gave way to tooled production, and the company moved from making boats to engineering them: hull moulds or jigs, repeatable laminate or welding schedules, dealer support and a proper spare parts chain.

The move into bowriders was a natural one. Families wanted seating forward of the windscreen rather than a closed foredeck, and the bowrider layout delivered more usable space per foot than anything else on the market. Chris-Craft adapted its existing hulls to the open-bow format, then began designing specifically for it — walk-through screens, convertible cushions, under-seat lockers and transom lounges — and bowriders have been a core part of the range ever since.

Fibreglass is the material that made the modern bowrider possible. Moulded hulls allow sculpted bow lounges, integrated liners, flush hatches and the smooth compound curves that give the class its ride and its looks. Hand-laid or vacuum-infused laminates, foam or composite stringer grids and moulded interior liners are all standard practice here, and the result is a boat that is quieter under way, drier at speed and far more comfortable at rest than any flat-panel hull.

Chris-Craft is the oldest name in American powerboating and the only major bowrider builder that leans into retro styling as its core identity. Launch and Catalina models pair modern GRP construction with tumblehome hull sides, teak decking, chrome hardware and low, elegant sheer lines that look like nothing else on the ramp. Underneath the nostalgia the boats are thoroughly current, with deep-V hulls, contemporary Mercury or Volvo Penta power and clever seating that converts from bow lounge to sunpad. Finish quality is genuinely luxury grade, particularly the joinery and the upholstery stitching, and buyers tend to keep the boats for a long time. The trade-off is practicality: teak needs maintenance, storage volume is smaller than a boxier modern bowrider of the same length, and prices are firmly premium. For owners who want a day boat that turns heads at a waterfront restaurant and still tows a skier competently, Chris-Craft occupies a niche the volume builders cannot touch.

Ask anyone at a boat ramp to name a Chris-Craft and you will hear Launch 22, Launch 25, Catalina 26. These are the boats that built the brand's reputation, and each one is documented on its own page on this site with specifications, layout notes, engine options and a real-world price guide.

The Chris-Craft Launch 22 is the model most buyers start with, and it sets the template for the rest of the range: open bow seating, a walk-through windscreen, a helm and companion seat amidships and a convertible transom lounge. Moving up the range adds beam and freeboard rather than just length, and beam is what you actually feel — a wider boat carries more people comfortably, stays flatter at rest and gives deeper lockers under the seats. Older generations of these same models remain popular on the used market, because the hulls change far more slowly than the upholstery and graphics do.

Chris-Craft is particularly recognised for Launch 22, Launch 25, Catalina 26 — and the full list of every model, series and range we have documented from this builder appears further down this page.

Chris-Craft's core market is North America — the Great Lakes, the inland reservoirs, the Florida and Gulf coasts, and the Pacific Northwest — where a bowrider is the default family boat and watersports drive the specification. Dealer networks are dense, which is a real advantage for owners: parts, warranty work and trade-in values are all easier when there is a dealer within a couple of hours. Boats are exported widely into Europe, Australia and the Middle East, and the used market outside America is well stocked with grey-import examples.

Being a North America builder matters more than it sounds. Boats are designed around the water their designers use, so the Chris-Craft range reflects North America conditions in freeboard, deadrise, cockpit drainage and seating priorities. If you boat somewhere similar, the boat will feel like it was designed for you — because it was.

Heritage American styling with teak, tumblehome and unmistakable classic lines. Longevity is its own achievement in this industry: boat building is brutally cyclical, and a company trading since 1874 has survived multiple recessions, fuel shocks, ownership changes and complete generational shifts in what buyers want from a family boat. That kind of continuity is why parts, dealer knowledge and used-boat values all stay healthy for this brand.

Used Chris-Crafts hold value well but check timber condition carefully, as neglected teak is expensive to restore.

The brand is known in the trade for Launch 22 and Launch 25, and among owners for something less measurable: boats that get used every weekend instead of sitting on the driveway. That is the highest compliment a family bowrider can be paid.

Day to day, a Chris-Craft bowrider is judged on the small things. How quickly can two people get it off the trailer and back on again? Where do the wet towels, the ski rope and the cooler live? Is there shade at midday, and somewhere dry for phones and keys? Moulded fibreglass liners with flush hatches make the boat quick to clean and easy to keep looking new. These boats are set up so a single adult can launch, retrieve and pack up without help, which in practice is the difference between a boat that gets used most weekends and one that stays in the driveway.

Running costs are modest for the class. Modern four-stroke outboards are frugal, quiet and simple to service, and a day of cruising with a couple of ski sets rarely troubles the fuel budget. Insurance, storage and trailer registration are the same as any comparable trailer boat, and because Chris-Craft is a recognised name, both insurers and finance companies value the boats without argument.

This is luxury-end production, and the price reflects build hours rather than length. Hand-laid or infused laminates, tight tolerances, marine-grade hardware, deep upholstery and finish standards closer to a yacht than a runabout all cost money to achieve. Resale is the strongest in the class, which softens the real cost of ownership considerably over a five to ten year hold.

Whatever you buy, inspect it the same way. Check the transom for flex with the drive or outboard lifted, tap the floor and stringers for softness, look hard at the bilge for staining and weeping, run the engine to temperature and confirm steering and trim work through their full travel. Upholstery seams and covers are the first things to fail on a boat stored outside, and they are also the most expensive cosmetic items to put right. On fibreglass, look for gelcoat crazing around fittings and stress lines radiating from the transom or trailer supports.

Finally, buy the layout rather than the badge. Sit in the bow, sit at the helm, sit on the transom lounge and imagine a full day aboard with your own family. Chris-Craft builds luxury fibreglass bowriders with stern drive and outboard power, and if that combination matches the water you use and the way you use it, this is a brand that will serve you for years and sell on well when you are ready for the next one.