Wellcraft LLC is a major

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

of American powerboats. It was founded in 1955, making wooden runabouts. The company slogan is, "Own the offshore".

Acquisitions

In 1982, Wellcraft purchased California Yachts from the Marshall Boat Company and in 1987 sold it back to them. In 2014,

Groupe Beneteau Beneteau or Bénéteau () is a French sail and motor boat manufacturer, with production facilities in France and in the United States. The company is a large and recognized boat builder, commanding a substantial worldwide market, with its holdi ...

acquired Rec Boat Holdings (Wellcraft, Four Winns, Scarab, and

Glastron Glastron is a boat manufacturing company and was one of the first manufacturers of fiberglass boats. Glastron is owned by Rec Boat Holdings, a subsidiary of Groupe Beneteau. Bob Hammond, Bill Gaston, Bob Shoop, and Guy Woodard founded the compan ...

Education programs

Wellcraft created the Wellcraft Saltwater Fishing School to teach new Wellcraft owners how to become better fishermen. It also created Wellcraft's High Performance Boot Camp to teach new Wellcraft owners how to get "maximum thrills" out of their new purchase while operating them safely.

Product line

Its Scarab line of boats, specifically, the ''Scarab 38 KV'' was featured on ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

''. The Wellcraft Scarab 38 KVs were a 28-hued, twin 440-hp boat that sold for $130,000 in 1986. As a result of the publicity the show gave Wellcraft, the company received "an onslaught of orders", increasing sales by 21 percent in one year. In appreciation, Wellcraft gave

Don Johnson Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Em ...

an exact duplicate of the boat featured on the show. Altogether, one hundred copies of the boat (dubbed the "Scarab 38KV Miami Vice Edition") were built by Wellcraft. The ''Miami Vice'' graphics and color scheme, which included turquoise, aqua, and orchid, was available by special order on any model Scarab from 20–38 feet. Don Johnson also designed the Scarab Excel 43 ft, Don Johnson Signature Series (DJSS), and raced a similar one. The Don Johnson Signature Series was powered by twin 650-hp

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

V-12's, which caused some problems to the design of the boat due to their size. Overall the boat cost $300,000 with each engine amounting to between $60–$70,000.

Starwind division

In the 1980s Wellcraft started a sailboat division, called Starwind. The division operated until about 1984, producing a line of small sailboats, including the Starwind 19, Starwind 22, Starwind 223 and Buccaneer 18

centerboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

boats.

References

External links

* {{Starwind Wellcraft