Hellwig Powerboats for Sale

Hellwig

Early adoption of fiberglass

The yard's history goes back to 1955, when founder Dieter Hellwig built his first boats under the name German Craft. That is historically notable, because it makes Hellwig one of the early German yards to consistently rely on glass-fiber reinforced plastic.

Dieter Hellwig: a boatbuilder with racing DNA

It is no coincidence that the yard – and to this day its models as well – carries the name of its founder. Dieter Hellwig was not only a boatbuilder, but also a successful powerboat racer. This background matters for the yard's profile: Hellwig's sporty orientation shaped the yard's reputation for a long time.

Affordable planing boats

Hellwig never aimed at the great offshore myth, but at compact and mid-size sport boats for owners looking for something fast, trailerable and suitable for everyday use. Models such as the Marathon, Milos, Taros, Triton or Poros stand for exactly this approach: manageable planing boats clearly geared toward leisure, water sports and short to medium outings, often in a price range that remained considerably more "sensible" than that of many international competitors.

Outboards today, in the past also inboards with sterndrive

Hellwig was never purely an outboard yard. Earlier brochures of the Milos series show very clearly that the same yard offered both outboard variants and inboard versions with sterndrive. The Milos V 630 IB was listed with up to 275 hp; the smaller Poros, by contrast, was recently presented with a 15 hp Mercury outboard. The range therefore extends from the very simple entry-level boat to the considerably more powerfully engined sport planing boat.

Technology: planing boats, open sport boats, sometimes with a cuddy cabin

Technically, Hellwig operates in the classic territory of planing boats. Many models are best described as open sport boats or runabouts; added to this are variants with a small cuddy cabin, meaning a compact forward berth beneath the foredeck. The yard's technical signature was never about spectacular exotics, but about boats that handle well and suit everyday use, with clean fiberglass workmanship and straightforward technology for leisure boating.

Practice instead of show

That is precisely where part of the brand's core lay – and still lies. Professional tests of the Marathon V 485 highlighted, among other things, planing behavior, steering feel, fiberglass workmanship and technical installation. That fits the yard's logic: Hellwig did not want to impress with exotic cutting-edge technology, but with cleanly built, durable sport boats. In the European market, that was often the more effective currency.

Small, electric, accessible

It is also interesting that the yard has repeatedly kept easy access to boating in mind. In France, the small Poros was even described in 2023 as a kind of "people's boat": light, transportable, uncomplicated and usable even with modest engine power. On top of that, Hellwig already presented an electric version back in 2016 with the Poros Elektro. That was no market revolution, but it was an indication that the yard was trying out new propulsion ideas relatively early.

A quiet yard history

In 1995, Michael Hammermeister took over the yard, and in 1999 it moved to Erkelenz. In 2025, Hellwig Boote was renamed German Craft Boat AG and strategically realigned. The Hellwig brand is retained, but is now more firmly embedded in a larger development and production framework. The yard therefore sees itself today not only as a brand manufacturer, but also as a production and development partner.

Models: Hellwig stands above all for compact to mid-sized sport planing boats with German yard tradition: Marathon, Milos, Taros, Triton and Poros are among the best-known names. The range extends from the small open entry-level boat with 15 hp to the far more powerfully engined sport boat with inboard and sterndrive in the range up to 275 hp. If you are looking for a used powerboat that is easy to handle, trailerable, solidly built and, in a figurative sense, "down-to-earth", you are sure to find it among Hellwig powerboats.