P A G E 4
HUNTER MARINE’S OWNER AND FOUNDER
W A R R E N R . L U H R S _ _
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Warren Luhrs was born in East Orange, New
Jersey in 1944 into a family with an estab-
lished tradition in the maritime and transporta-
tion industries. His great-grandfather, Henry,
was a railroad and clipper-shipping pioneer in
America, while his great-uncle John helped
build the famous St. Petersburg to Moscow
railroad for Czar Alexander II.
Henry Luhrs owned shares in twenty-two
different ocean-going vessels – barks, brigs,
and schooners - and was the principal owner
of the bark
Sophia R. Luhrs,
named for his
wife. He was also a partner with Albert Sprout,
who managed the shipyard where the
Sophia
R. Luhrs
was built in Melbridge, Maine.
Warren Luhrs’ father Henry worked at a small
boat manufacturer in Morgan, New Jersey,
and later started his own company, continuing
the Luhrs’ family sea tradition during the great
depression. During World War II he repaired
boats and installed ice sheathing on their
bows for the Coast Guard.
After the War, Henry built 27-foot fishing boats
and in 1948 began to construct custom-built
pleasure craft. He then turned to skiffs and in
1952 incorporated as Henry Luhrs Sea Skiffs,
where he constructed lapstrake sea skiffs
using
assembly-line
techniques.
Henry
personally “shook down” his prototypes on
family trips up the Hudson River to Lake
Champlain.
The sea skiff is a class of boat that has been
very popular, owing to its seaworthiness. It
features a sharp bow, which reduces
pounding in surf or choppy seas, and a hull
whose forward section is rounded below the
waterline to increase stability in rough water or
a following sea. Such skiffs can either be
smooth sided or of a lapstrake construction.
Inspired by Henry Ford, Henry Luhrs’ aimed to
give the average man the opportunity to enjoy
the luxury of boating by building an affordable
and reliable boat. He was both designer and
engineer, and his progressive new models ex-
hibited his talent for innovation. He success-
fully changed the line of the bow from straight
to curved at a time when the industry trend was
a straight square effect, and he is believed to
be the first designer-builder to popularize a
small boat with a fly bridge.
In 1960, Luhrs acquired the Ulrichsen Boat
Company of Marlboro, New Jersey. It was here
that Luhrs’ Alura fiberglass division was lo-
cated. In 1965, Henry sold his company to
Bangor Arrostook Railroad, which was to be-
come the recreational conglomerate Bangor-
Punta. It was also during this period that Silver-
ton of Tom’s River, New Jersey was purchased
by John and Warren Luhrs.
Today, Warren R. Luhrs and his brother John
own the Luhrs Group of marine manufacturers,
which consists of Silverton Marine, Mainship
Motor Yachts, and Luhrs Fishing Boats with its
Alura division, as well as Hunter Marine, which
exclusively manufactures sailboats.
In January of 1996, the Luhrs family trans-
ferred a portion of the Luhrs Group to its em-
ployees through an ESOP program.
