Runabouts for Sale

Runabout

There are plenty of reasons to buy a Runabout: because you want to be out on the water a bit more sportily than "everyone else", because the boat's design simply wins you over, because classic doesn't have to mean old-fashioned, or because you just want to "be part of the club".

What is a Runabout?

For many powerboat enthusiasts, the "runabout" is the ultimate combination of style and functionality. This open sports powerboat, with seating for two to ten passengers, had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s – not least because the stars and starlets of the film and entertainment scene of the day loved to be seen aboard.
The runabouts of two legendary yards are still regarded today as the "original archetypes of the exclusive sports powerboat": Riva (Italy) and Chris Craft (USA).

Runabouts (American English for drifter or roamer) were already being offered in the USA as semi-custom models back in the 1920s and were celebrated as the start of a new era of watersports defined by ultimate freedom.
Technically, they were initially built around the outboard motor, which had only just been invented at the time. Later, these strikingly sleek and usually elegantly appointed boats were also fitted with inboards, sterndrives and jet drives.
Measuring between five and nine meters in length, runabouts are hard to pin down as a boat class. Many Americans call every open sports powerboat without a cabin a runabout, while in Europe the "roamers" are more closely associated with the distinctive look and design of the exclusive models from Riva. Accordingly, almost every powerboat yard, large or small, has one or more runabout models in its range, often offered as retro versions in wood or with a wooden deck, and these are in high demand on the used boat market. The first retro runabouts with electric motors can already be found on the market, too.

The archetype of the runabout

The world-famous boat designer Carlo Riva (who died in 2017 at the age of 95) laid the foundation for his career with the runabout "Aquaramas". Its design is considered the archetype of European runabouts.
Probably the best-known American runabout pioneer was John L. Hacker, who founded his yard as early as 1908. In 1911, Hacker fitted an aircraft engine into a wooden powerboat, which he christened Kitty Hawk II. With this "hydroplane", Hacker set the then-sensational world record of over 80 km/h – a mark that no other boat would match for years.
To this day, after several changes of ownership and as reputedly the oldest surviving powerboat yard in the world, fascinating wooden boats are still built and expertly restored under the name Hacker-Craft.