A runabout is any small

motorboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

holding between four and eight people, well suited to moving about on the water. Characteristically between 20' to 35' in length, runabouts are used for pleasure activities like

boating Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether Motorboat, powerboats, Sailing, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sp ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, and

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

, as a

ship's tender A ship's tender, usually referred to as a tender, is a boat, or a larger ship, used to service or support other boats or ships. This is generally done by transporting people or supplies to and from shore or another ship. A second and distinctl ...

for larger vessels, or in racing. Some common runabout types are bow rider, center console, cuddy boat and

walkaround A walkaround (also spelled walk-around or walk around, or called a horay) was a dance from the blackface minstrel shows of the 19th century. The walkaround began in the 1840s as a dance for one performer, but by the 1850s, many dancers or the ...

. The world's largest runabout, ''Pardon Me'', is 48 feet long and owned by the

Antique Boat Museum The Antique Boat Museum is a located in the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River, in Clayton, New York, United States. The Antique Boat Museum is the premier freshwater boating museum in North America. The ABM's collections hold over 320 uniqu ...

in Clayton, New York.

History

The first runabouts date back to the 1920s and were originally small, fast, powerful, varnished, wooden boats created to take advantage of the power of

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

s such as the first Evinrude, introduced in 1909. In order to gain speed, the hull shape had to be designed to take advantage of

hydroplaning Aquaplaning or hydroplaning by the tires of a road vehicle, aircraft or other wheeled vehicle occurs when a layer of water builds between the wheels of the vehicle and the road surface, leading to a loss of traction that prevents the vehicle fr ...

; a

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

-like design would allow the boat to skim atop the water's surface at high speed instead of needing to push aside large quantities of water to move forward. Another design change which followed soon after was the replacement of the

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

control with a rudder controlled by a steering wheel, allowing the operator a comfortable forward-facing position. A remote lever to allow the engines to be placed into a reverse gear was another early innovation. Among the leading builders of 1920s runabouts was John L. Hacker, who founded the Hacker Boat Company in 1908. Hacker was a pioneering naval architect who developed many design innovations, like the 'V-bottom'. His designs became the model upon which virtually all subsequent runabouts were based. Shortly, similar upscale varnished-wood runabouts by

Gar Wood Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to travel ...

and Chris-Craft and were also available, fitted with

windshield The windshield (North American English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from the elements. Mo ...

s to protect the cockpits and up to

Liberty V-12 The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both ...

marinized Marinisation (also marinization) is design, redesign, or testing of products for use in a marine environment. Most commonly, it refers to use and long-term survival in harsh, highly corrosive salt water conditions. Marinisation is done by many manu ...

surplus World War I aero engines built for speed. But by the late 1940s, Gar Wood had stopped producing boats, and by the 1960s Chris-Craft was moving to the more modern materials of plastic and

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

. Hackercraft, with multiple changes in ownership, continued on. The mahogany runabouts built by Italian builder

Carlo Riva Carlo Riva (24 February 1922 – 10 April 2017) was an Italian motorboat designer and builder, famed for his luxurious runabouts. The runabouts built by Italian builder Carlo Riva are considered by many to be premier European examples of the t ...

in the late 1950s and the 1960s are considered by many to be premier European examples of the type. The most famous Riva of all time was the Carlo Riva design called the Aquarama Special.

Construction and materials

Originally, runabouts were made entirely of wood, with mahogany used for hulls and planking and oak for framing. The use of aluminium in small boat construction came soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

because of availability of

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

materials as war surplus. Fiberglass was then introduced as another way to reduce the maintenance, cost and weight of

watercraft Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...

. Given the cost benefits and personal enjoyment of boat building, do-it-yourself ′Kit Boats′ were also introduced using plywood material. In 1955, Chris-Craft created The Plywood Boat Division which marketed both Kit and pre-built plywood craft.Savage, J., (2002), ''Chris-Craft of the 1950s'', St. Paul: MBI Publishing. By 1960, wooden powerboats had become rare since most new vessels used fiberglass or other lightweight materials, including

fiber reinforced plastic Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP; also called fibre-reinforced polymer, or in American English ''fiber'') is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass (in fibreglass), carbon (in carbon-fib ...

materials to reduce weight and maximize speed, particularly in racing craft. The art of boatbuilding in wood has been largely lost since it requires a level of craftsmanship impossible in large scale production boat building. One exception is the Hacker Boat Company, which continues to produce mahogany boats on the shores of Lake George, New York. Other wooden boatbuilders include Graf, J-Craft, and Boesch.

Propulsion

Runabouts can be powered by inboard engines, outboards, jet drives, or inboard-outboard (I/O) drives. Engines can be gasoline or diesel systems. Inboards have the engine block permanently mounted within the hull of the boat, with a drive shaft and a propeller to drive the craft underneath the hull, and a separate rudder to steer the craft. Outboards are steerable external drive motors containing the engine block, linkage gears, and propeller within a single unit, taking the place of a rudder. Outboard drives are mounted to the transom and steered by a remote system leading to a wheel mounted on the boat's console. Inboard-Outboard (or stern drives) are a hybrid, with an engine block mounted within the hull linked to a pivotable lower drive unit which steers the craft, similar to an outboard motor. Jet Drives have a propeller enclosed in a

pump-jet A pump-jet, hydrojet, or water jet is a marine system that produces a jet of water for propulsion. The mechanical arrangement may be a ducted propeller (axial-flow pump), a centrifugal pump, or a mixed flow pump which is a combination of both ...

that draws water from underneath the hull and expels it through a swiveling nozzle in the stern. They are highly maneuverable and tolerant of shallow water, but need larger engines and use more fuel than the other alternatives.

References

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External links

A history of outboard racingAntique Boat Museum, Clayton, New York Antique & Classic Boat Society (antique wood runabouts)
Motorboats Nautical terminology