Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

[POINTER94]

Looking at a 1999 Chris Craft 30ft cruiser. I believe that is around when the company was just a brand and not a manufacturer. Who was building them at that time and any insights into quality.

The boat is what the call the 30EC (Express Cruiser). It is not one of the crown series that were very popular. This one comes with twin 5.0L volvo's w/500hrs.

http://www.skipperbuds.com/Page.asp...9033/view/Details/2000-Chris-Craft-308EC.aspx

Thanks in advance to all.....

 

[Don S]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Chris Craft made it. The have been making boats for a few years now. http://www.chriscraft.com/history/history-timeline/

 

[POINTER94]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Thanks Don.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

OMC owned the brand in 1999. As a former owner of a 1999 24' EC, I can tell you that my boat was a bit 'austere' compared to say, a Searay of the same vintage. It was, however, extremely well built with top quality materials throughout. In addition, it was a very seaworthy boat- 22 deg deadrise (unusual in that class) at the transom and simply great in choppy water. It rode better in slop than my 27' Four Winns does. Not sure how much of my experience translates to the 30', but it's certainly worth a look.

Mine was powered by a single 5.7 Volvo F.I. with duo-prop, and it was a great combo. The 30' with twin 5.0's sounds like a nice package. My only caution is to make sure that 5.0 is really a GM 305 c.i. engine (distributor at the rear of the engine) and not a Ford 302 (distributor at the front).

Try e-mailing Chris*Craft customer service. They didn't have much from the OMC days, but they were able to send me a basic spec sheet on the boat.

Good luck!

 

[5150abf]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Yup, that is right in there where OMC went belly up so it was probably made by Chris Craft proper and not just another company using the name.

They were actually made in my home town, Goshen Indiana, for many years but I not sure when they went out of buisness or moved the plant.

Depending on how close to the end of production it was it could be a good boat or not, I mean if it was built the day they were told they are out of buisness all bets are off.

 

[ampcarfan]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Owned a 98' 260 Crowne with a carb/5.7 and duo-prop years ago. Build quality was outstanding, great holeshot, 44mph top-end. GOOD boat.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Yup, that is right in there where OMC went belly up so it was probably made by Chris Craft proper and not just another company using the name.

They were actually made in my home town, Goshen Indiana, for many years but I not sure when they went out of buisness or moved the plant.

Depending on how close to the end of production it was it could be a good boat or not, I mean if it was built the day they were told they are out of buisness all bets are off.

They went out of business because of a lawsuit. A Good Samaritan in an older wooden CC was helping tow a disabled bowrider with a little girl in the bow. Since it was a big cruiser and had no transom eyes, they tied the towline to a deck cleat. The cleat pulled thru rotten wood, sprung back and hit the girl between the eyes. The jury awarded the family big bucks (the girl lived but needed constant care - basically brain dead). Since the owner of the boat had little money and CC had deep pockets, it was resolved to be a boat defect. To that point in history it was the largest personal injury suit. Copled with a recession and slow boat sales, it put CC under.

OMC subsequently bought the assest at auction. The second demise was when OMC went under.

 

[spoilsofwar]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

They went out of business because of a lawsuit. A Good Samaritan in an older wooden CC was helping tow a disabled bowrider with a little girl in the bow. Since it was a big cruiser and had no transom eyes, they tied the towline to a deck cleat. The cleat pulled thru rotten wood, sprung back and hit the girl between the eyes. The jury awarded the family big bucks (the girl lived but needed constant care - basically brain dead). Since the owner of the boat had little money and CC had deep pockets, it was resolved to be a boat defect. To that point in history it was the largest personal injury suit. Copled with a recession and slow boat sales, it put CC under.

Interesting story; it made me want to hear more regarding the chris craft lawsuit. I found this on a website about David Bianchi, a Lawyer who successfully brought several cases against CC:

...But those cases turned out to be warm-ups for an even bigger product liability suit against Chris-Craft over a torpedo-shaped metal cleat. In 1979 a sailboat with Florida International University students aboard was being towed into Bimini by a wooden Chris-Craft when the tow line ripped the stern cleat from the Chris-Craft striking a student on the sailboat square between the eyes. He was immediately blinded. After Bianchi and Stewart filed the case, the manufacturer initially denied responsibility claiming that the boat had been poorly maintained and was not in its original condition. Bianchi and Stewart proved otherwise.

Next, the defense argued that the Chris-Craft cleats were not designed for towing. But Bianchi learned of a similar case decades earlier in Michigan, flew to Detroit and uncovered the long-lost case file in the basement of the Wayne County Courthouse. Sure enough, Chris-Craft had filed an interrogatory answer in that case in which it stated that the stern cleat was specifically designed for towing.

The defense then argued that the cleat had been improperly installed by a third party. To rebut that defense, Bianchi tracked down the same model Chris-Craft built the very same year and found it had the identical installation. “It was a high-profile case,” Bianchi recalls, “and the jury awarded our client a $7.5 million verdict which was a lot in those days.” Shortly thereafter, Bianchi and Stewart were hired to represent a family in New York whose young son received a brain injury when a Chris-Craft cleat ripped from the deck of the identical boat model in the Hudson River. That case settled shortly after suit was filed.

In the second case (McCann v. Chris Craft), the settlement was $125 million. It was a little boy, btw, 9 years old.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...JVPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zwUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4681,1953490

craziness.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Storied described above was from the late 1970s.

While interesting, it really has nothing to do with who "made" Chris Craft boats in 1999. As others have stated in 99, CC was owned by OMC.

OMC officially declared bankruptcy in Dec. 2000.

A 1999 model year Chris-Craft is not at risk of being the last one made before they were OOB.

 

[POINTER94]

Re: Who made Chris Craft's in 1999

Thanks all for the valuable info... Interesting topic!