Chaparral set for big 50th year

Buck Pegg, the founder of Chaparral Boats, celebrated 50 years as a boat builder this week with the news that his iconic brand of sports boats hold number one market share in the US from 18 to 37 feet.

From humble beginnings as a 20 year old, Buck Pegg has gone on to build one of the world’s first production bow riders and created an industry institution in Chaparral Boats.

In 2001, the company acquired and ramped up production capacity to 10,000 boats per annum. This year, Chaparral has revealed the introduction of a new jet boat range, has released a bay-boat range from Robalo and has a number of new model announcements pending.

According to Chaparral, Mr Pegg has been asked several times this year about his intentions to retire, to which he answers: “I am lucky that I have spent 50 years enjoying myself every single day, building boats is my hobby and I don’t know that you can retire from a hobby.”

The Chaparral team has undertaken an unprecedented R&D program since the beginning of the GFC, with a strong balance sheet and no debt, the dynamic duo of Buck Peck and Jim Lane have outshone their competitors releasing 36 new models over the Robalo and Chaparral range.

“Buck, Jim and the team deserve every success and we look forward to some surprise announcements coming through, we are waiting on some exciting new model releases and especially reckon this year’s dealer conference will be pretty big, we are in training already,” said Scott O’Hare from Chaparral Australia. “Happy 50th Birthday Chaparral!”

For more information on the Chaparral Range go to www.chaparralaustralia.com.au or for Robalo www.robaloaustralia.com.au  or contact Chaparral Australia on (03)9397-6977