HUNTER MARINE’S OWNER AND FOUNDER
WARREN R. LUHRS
BRIEF BACKGROUND
PAGE 9
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.
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