C. Raymond Hunt Associates History

Any history of C. Raymond Hunt Associates begins with the fascinating life and incredible achievements of C. (Charles) Raymond Hunt. Ray Hunt, whose work was marked by great variety and success, was one of the most innovative designers of his time. His most significant contribution to the field of small craft design was the creation of the high-deadrise, deep-V hull which revolutionized the development of fast powerboats.

C. Raymond Hunt Associates was founded in 1961 as a partnership between Ray Hunt and John Deknatel, who then became the firm’s President for 45 years. Winn Willard joined the company in 1970 and is now the current President. This association originally was formed to deal with the heavy flow of projects that resulted from the extraordinary performance of Ray's design for the Bertram 31.

As growth required, Hunt Associates continued to add naval architects, engineers and specialists. Today, more than eight full-time staff work in the firm's office. This team uniquely combines naval architecture, engineering and production expertise within a single group.

At the end of the 1990’s, the Design Office became intrigued with the possibility of developing a simple, single-engine powerboat that would deliver moderate speed, very efficient passages and the full advantage of the Hunt deep-V hull. It would provide modest accommodation, to reflect that an increasing number of boaters were not interested nor had the time for cruising but might spend an occasional night aboard. And it would avoid details which required excessive maintenance.

From this concept in 1998 emerged plans for what became the Hunt 33. Those plans were offered to several production builders who were already Hunt clients. But, when each turned down this opportunity, backers decided to proceed with building a small company around the design. Quite logically, that company was named Hunt Yachts.

C. Raymond Hunt Associates have enjoyed a long association with production builders, having designed lines of powerboats and motoryachts for them which have had popular and commercial success. Among the impressive list of prominent yacht builders who have used Hunt Design are Alden, Baltic, Bertram, Boston Whaler, Burger, Cal/O’Day, Camper & Nicholsons, Chris Craft, Concordia, Four Winns, Grady-White, Grand Banks, Hinckley, Lyman-Morse, Palmer Johnson, Pearson, Robalo, Royal Huisman, Wellcraft and, of course, Hunt Yachts.

This company and its staff have won numerous awards and their creations have been reviewed and praised in boating magazines, maritime journals, and the business press. The plethora of imitators claiming knowledge of the deep-V only confirms the leadership position of C. Raymond Hunt Associates.