HUNTER
MARINE'S
OWNER AND FOI.JNDER
WARRENR.LUHRS
BRIEF
IilSTORY
Bomin
1944
inEast
Orange, NewJersey,
WarrenR
Luhrs'
ancestry
goes
back to his
great-grandfather,
Henry,
who
helped
pioneer
railroading and clipper
ships
in
Anreric4
and
to his
great-uncle,
John, who 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
princi.
pal
owner of the bark, Sophia R.
Luhrs,
named
after
his
wife. He was
also
a
partner
with Albert
Sprout,
who man-
aged a shipyard inMelbridge, Maine,
where
the Sophia
R.
Luhrs
wasbuilt.
The Luhrs'
family
sea tradition was
carried
on
during
the
great
depression by
Warren
Luhrs'
father,
Henry, who
worked
at a small boat
manufacturer inMorgarl
NewJer-
sey, and later
started his own company.
When war
broke
out inEurope,
the Coast Guard asked
HenryLuhrs
to re-
rair
their
boats
and install ice
sheathing
on their
bows.
After World War II, Henry
built 27
-foot
fishing
boats
and in
I 918 beganto construct custom-built
pleasure
craft . He
then
tumed
to skiffs and
in
1952 incorporated
as
Henry Luhrs
Sea
skiffs.
He
constructed lap strake
sea
skiffs
using as-
sembly-line techniques. Henrypersonally
"shook
down" his
prototypes
with family trips up the Hudson
River
to Lake
Champlain
The sea skifis a class ofboat whichhas
beenvery popular,
owing to its seaworthiness. It featwes
a sharp
bow, which
reduces
pounding
in surfor choppy
seas,
and
a hull whose
forward section
isrounded
belowthe
water
line to
increase
stability inroughwater
or
a following
sea. Such skift
can
either
be smooth-sided
or oflapstrake
construction.
Henry Luhrs'
basic
philosophy
was to emulate
the
late
Herny
Ford
inbuilding aninexpensive
boat
forthe average
num,
thus enabling him to
enjoy the
l*ury
of boating.
He was
both
designer
and engineer,
creating
innovative
and
progres-
sive newmodels.
He designed
the
change inthe line ofthe
bowfrom straight
to curved
at
a
time
when allboats
where
being built withthe straight
square effect.
It is
believed
he
was also the first
designer-builder
to
popularize
a small
boat
withafly-bridge.
in 1960, Luhrs
acquired
the
Ulrichsen Boat Company,
Il4arlboro, New
Jersey. It was
here,
too, that the Lulrrs'Alura
Fiberglass DMsion
was located.Int965,
Henry sold
his
company to Bangor
Arrostook
Railroad"
whichwas
to be-
come the recreational
conglomerate,
Bangor-Punta.
It was
also during
this
period
that
Silverton
ofTom's River,
New
Jersey waspurchased
by John
and
Warrenluhrs.
Today, Warren R.
Luhrs
and his
brother John, own Hunter
Marine Corporation,
Silverton
Marine
Corporation,
Mainship Motor Yachts
and
Lulrs
Fishing Boats
with its
Alura division. Hunter
Marine
produces
sailboats
while the
other
companies
produce
powerboats.
In January
of 1996, Warren
and Johntransferred
a
portion
ofthe
Luhrs
Group to its
employees
tlrough
an
ESOP
pro-
gram
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