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Duroboat Over the Years

Duroboat has been in the US since 1983.    The 2011 model year will be the 29th for Duroboat. 

Duroboat has its roots in Australia.    An Australian builder of aluminum boats thought that neither riveted nor welded boats were tough enough or light enough to race rocky rivers or handle the rough Southern Ocean.  He developed a better way, the Durojoint. You can read more about the Durojoint in our Features section of this web site.

The boat was brought to the US in 1983 where the inventor and a local Seattle Washington family teamed to start the Duroboat Manufacturing Company.   From the beginning through 2010 over 10,000 Duroboats have been built in the Seattle area.  Due to its unique construction method it has also been shipped in stacks all over the world.

Dealers in several nations anxious to sell a high quality American made boat have undertaken final assembly so they could bring the boat to their customers.

In the mid 90's Duroboat opened a facility in Pentacle Florida. The boat found a great market acceptance in the South Eastern US but it proved difficult to manage a second site. And the facility was closed in 1999. The main factory moved from downtown Seattle to the Village of Maltby which is about 25 Miles from Seattle in Snohomish County.

In 2001 the old company sold the Duroboat brand and technology to a new corporation DuroMarine. DuroMarine is a closely held corporation that was specifically formed to bring the traditional quality, performance and value that has always been a part of Duroboat to an expanded community of boaters and friends.

In December 2009 as a result of a very weak economy and low demand for boats Duroboat closed its doors in Snohomish and packed up everything for a move to Tennessee.   Duroboat decided to make its stand in the volunteer state which is in the middle of a lot more people.   The company opened its doors in the Town of Huntingdon Tennessee in January of 2010.  Our plan is to use access to more population to re-start the company on a growth trajectory.

The pictures that follow show some early Duroboats, the first factory and some early low budget demonstrations of the strength and performance of the Duroboat.

 

Duroboats roots in Australian boat racing.

 

Illustration of Durojoint toughness ,  from the "takes a lick en' and keeps on tick en", school of advertising.

 

 Road testing the Duroboat, with the boat ,as the road being tested.   Bodacious old demonstrations not withstanding, if you drive a car over your Duroboat we may be a little reluctant to honor the warranty.

 

Early Duroboat.  Bow deck instead of  bow shelf, and no interior paint. Interior paint was introduced to cut down on sunburned fishermen.

 

A couple of shots from the first factory.   The second one is almost art.

 

Definitely do not do this at home.  These were professional boat testers and even they may have had a loose screw or two.  It is a fishing boat not an airplane.

 

When we say hi performance hulls we mean good fuel economy, easy to plane, smooth ride.  Flight characteristics are quite variable.   Keep your boat on the water.