Bar Crusher to take on US trailer boat market

The plate alloy boat brand has officially announced it will soon arrive on US shores, with more details on the move to come.

The announcement was accompanied by an image of the Bar Crusher 670HT, a 6.7-metre long, 2.35-metre beam alloy plate boat with a semi-enclosed hardtop.

According to Bar Crusher, the 670HT is one of the most popular and versatile boats that the Melbourne-based manufacturer builds.

The image also suggests that Bar Crusher will target the more premium end of the US offshore fishing boat market that is currently dominated by fibreglass boats.

The brand will also need to turn around the large number of US boat buyers who have a preference for riveted alloy boats rather than welded ones.

No other details about the US sales move were announced, but it is believed this is not the first time that a push into the US market has been considered. A spokesman for Bar Crusher declined to comment, saying more details would be revealed later.

Bar Crusher’s move on the US market follows that of New Zealand rival Stabicraft, which late last year started building boats in North America as it attempts to establish a larger foothold in a market it has sold into for more than 30 years.

Today’s announcement is the first major move from the company since its founders, Peter and Warren Cleland, sold the business to a group of South Australia-based investors led by businessmen Dan Hill and Richard Green.

Announcing the boat-making business’s sale in March last year, Peter Cleland said the new owners “love the brand, the product, the business model and the Bar Crusher culture”.

Bar Crusher boats are built using a number of innovations including the Waveslicer deep vee hull, Quickflow flooded keel systems that help with stability at rest, and the Ridgedeck sealed cockpit floor.

The boats also have a reputation as being unsinkable.