Blazing Barracuda

By Lee Wangstad - Boating World On-line

The Chris-Craft Barracuda was at the forefront of the 1950's boat-kit trend.

Imagine a box arriving on the back of a freight delivery truck. You excitedly summon some neighborhood guys to give you a hand unloading the package. Emblazoned across the side are the words “Chris-Craft, Boat Kit Division, Algonac, Michigan.” It’s October 1955, and you’re about to embark on an endeavor that will make your garage the most visited place in the neighborhood. You’ve ordered the Chris-Craft Barracuda, a 14-foot runabout with all the looks of the big mahogany inboard boats that Chris-Craft is famous for designing.

Although boat kits had been available prior to the ‘50s, they really exploded onto the market during this era. With a number of companies already established in the market, Chris-Craft entered the field in 1950 with an 8-foot pram kit.

An immediate success, it was soon followed by a complete line of boats, all the way up to a 31-foot inboard express cruiser. The Barracuda competed directly in the most popular boating category of the day: the 14- to 16-foot outboard runabout market.

Chris-Craft’s entry into this market was significant. Up until this time the company’s niche was limited to upper-end inboard boats, everything from 16-foot utilities up to cruisers equipped for ocean travel.
The styling of the early kits looked just like the plywood boats that were being professionally built by other companies in the industry. Chris-Craft advertising claimed that its kits could be built with nominal woodworking skills and nothing more than household tools, with the end result being of professional quality.

The Chris-Craft kits used 1/4-inch fir plywood in the hull sides and bottoms with 1-1/2-inch plywood for the transoms. The decks were cut from Philippine mahogany-faced plywood. The stem and frame members were precut, machined and preassembled from solid Philippine mahogany. The shipping crate doubled as a building jig to assist in the assembly.

The Barracuda measured 13 feet 4 inches in length with a beam of 5 feet 1.5 inches. Weighing slightly more than 340 pounds, it was capable of hitting 35 mph powered by a 35-hp engine. The interior featured a walk-through center deck and the builder’s choice of whether to pilot the boat from the front or rear seat. Windshields, interior kits and deck hardware were available options.

The main attraction of these kits was getting on the water with a low initial investment, and most marketing for these boats was directed toward the entry level. The main competition in this entry-level market was between the kits and the used-boat market. In the early ‘50s, there were not enough boats on the used-boat market to provide any kind of competition, and the kit-boat market flourished. By the later ‘50s supply had caught up with demand, and the market was flooded with used boats.

As demand for the kits diminished, some manufacturers turned to fiberglass production, both in kit form and fully assembled boats. Chris-Craft merged its Boat Kit Division with its Cavalier Boat Division, which had been producing plywood-hulled inboard runabouts and small cruisers. The last Chris-Craft kits were sold in 1959.

Due to the questionable conditions under which many of the kit boats were assembled, their survival rate is low. One of the finest Chris-Craft Barracudas that did survive belongs to Bill Fischer. “The previous owner ran a 1955 25-hp Evinrude Big Twin on the boat,” says Fischer. “The engine had been sold before I got the boat, but I found an Evinrude just like the original and completely restored it. The Big Twin runs the boat at around 25 mph.”

Old Faithful, as Fischer calls his Barracuda, runs as good as it looks. “It’s a great little boat,” he says, “really built lightweight. You can feel and hear the ripples of the water under your feet as you speed along.”

By Lee Wangstad - Boating  World On-line

Copyright ©2003 Trans World Publishing Inc.  All rights reserved. 
Reproduced here for Archival purposes only.

 
1956 14' Chris Craft Barracuda Kit Boat.

1956 30hp Johnson Javelin. Electric Start motor.  These boats are very rare due to the fact owners bought a kit for around $150 to $200 and put it together in garages all over America.  Not many homemade boats exist after 45 plus years.  Other than a few custom items, this boat is in original condition and used regularly on the Mississippi River as a dinghy for our cruiser.  The motor is untouched mechanically or cosmetically since it was purchased new by my grandfather.  - Owners John & Sandy Johnson.

Barracuda on Chris-Craft Trailer

1958 14' Chris Craft Barracuda boat kit still in box
I thought I would post this here because I know a lot may find this interesting and enjoy seeing this boat kit. My neighbor and good friend has a 14 Ft Barracuda Chris Craft Boat Kit from 1958 or 1959 (he can't remember exact year.) He bought it then and never got around to building it. It still has the original shipping label on the box. It has been in the box all of this time and never opened it until Sep. 30, 2008 (only one box of the two were opened) to inspect the contents and take pictures.) Everything is in excellent condition like new. It is rare to find a Barracuda Kit boat intact and extremely rare to find one still in the box. I have been doing a lot of research on it and can't find any that are original and not built still in the box. I have found a few that have been restored but even those are hard to find. I also found that you can buy replica boat kits of this boat. He has decided to sell it since he is 81 now and won't ever use it.  I have gotten a lot of response on how unique it is. Feel free to comment. - by tapeduper

 

 

 

 

 

 
1957 Chris-Craft Barracuda