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HUNTER MARINE
’
S OWNER AND FOUNDER
WARREN R. LUHRS
BRIEF BACKGROUND
PAGE 4
Warren Luhrs was born in East Orange,
New Jersey in 1944 into a family with an
established tradition in the maritime and
transportation 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
exhibited his talent for
innovation. He successfully 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 located. In 1965,
Henry sold his company to Bangor
Arrostook Railroad, which was to
become the recreational conglomerate
Bangor-Punta. It was also during this
period that Silverton 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
transferred a portion of the Luhrs Group
to its employees through an ESOP
program.