Legend Yachts History

Legend yachts are built by Hunter Marine in Florida, USA, a subsidery of the Luhrs Marine Group, one of the largest yacht producers in the World.

The Luhrs Marine Group has its roots deeply imbedded in the marine business for well over a century. In the 1830’s, a German immigrant by the name of Henry Luhrs was launching a marine chandlery business in New York City. As the business prospered, Henry was able to acquire shares in his own ships. Henry’s grandson, another Henry, was also involved in the marine business as a shipwright. After learning the trade, this young Henry went off on his own and started to build and repair clinker or lapstrake boats on the New Jersey coast in a small town named Morgan. Mass production had not yet reached the marine industry, but Henry upon seeing the economies of scale that Henry Ford was receiving decided to adopt these practices for his company and the “production boat” was born.

Henry and his two sons, John and Warren, built the Henry Luhrs Sea Skiff Company into a very successful boat company, building in excess of 1,200 boats a year in the 1960’s. The family was one of the first to embrace the innovation of fiberglass and the company continued to expand. In 1965, Bangor-Punta, a large timber conglomerate, bought the company. While Henry and John stayed on for a while, they were always looking for other opportunities. In 1969, John and Warren bought a fledgling company named Silverton Sea Skiffs in Tom’s River, New Jersey and by 1973 were well on their way to success again.

Warren, who has always had a passion for sailing, believed the same production methods could work for sailboats as well as power. In 1973, the first Hunter Marine sailboat was launched, a very affordable 25 footer.
Today, Hunter Marine Corporation is one of the largest sailboat builders in the world and are able to offer massive economies of scale to reach an exceptional price/quality ratio. They are also an ESOP company, with partial ownership available to all employees.

Hunter Marine is easily confused with the similarly-named British boat builder, Hunter Boats (now British Hunter). Consequently Hunter Marine uses the brand name “Legend” for boats sold in Great Britain.