Retro revival: Haines Hunter project boats

One place of interest to me is the “Old School Haines Boats” page on Facebook. This group of Haines Hunter enthusiasts has more than 33,000 members comprising owners and followers who are passionate about the brand, and many of whom have rebuilt or restored boats built by the Haines family in the 1970s and ’80s.
Haines Hunter is an iconic brand, dating back to the 1960s and built around the Queensland-based boat-building dynasty formed by brothers John Snr and Garry Haines.

The Haines family’s association with Haines Hunter ended in 1980, with the brand still building boats out of its new home at Derrimut in Melbourne’s outer east under the direction of Maritime Global.

However, the Haines name is now also linked to the Haines Group, managed by John’s son John Jnr, and including models such as the Signature series introduced in 1984 that includes the Tournament and Seafarer brands.

Boats built by the Haines family have spanned generations of owners, often handed down by grandfathers to sons, to grandsons. Sometimes ownership will even skip a generation, as family members recover boats formerly owned by the family, or look to restore a boat similar to the one they so fondly remember from their childhood.

The other thing, too, is that boat production, design and technology have come a long way in the last 40 years. Even so, some of the features built into these older boats remain revered, even today. Particularly in the last decade, these hulls have become sought-after collector’s items, with rare, unmodified hulls now fetching strong prices on the used market as enthusiasts swoop on restoration projects.

>> Used Haines Hunter boats on boatsales.com.au

The Old School Haines Boats group had its origins in 2014, when Queensland-based Casey Harrison posted a question on Facebook asking questions on how to restore his Haines Hunter V17L hull. That conversation grew into a discussion among a group of mates, and then into an open forum exchanging ideas, construction advice, hull identification, help with modifications and experiences.

In just four years, the group has grown to become what is arguably one of the largest online forums in Australia dedicated to older boats.

The forum has started organising annual events where owners can gather and share all the details of their Haines Hunter projects. The state- and territory-based events can attract hundreds of like-minded enthusiasts, with the the highlight taking place when all the boats attending take to the water as shore-borne spectators watch them put through their paces.

The Old School Haines Boats moderators – Harrison, Sean Bidder, Anthony Cliffe and James Turner – attended the latest gathering held in Melbourne in August. They were greeted by about 60 boats scattered around the Hobsons Bay Fishing Club car park near Williamstown.

Greg Haines, who helped manage the Haines Group business before moving to an executive role with Gold Coast-based motor yacht maker Maritimo in 2012, was a special guest at the event.
“I can’t get over the quality of these rigs you Victorians have produced this year,” he said when asked about the event.

Models on display included the 565, the 635 V16, V17 and V19, the 445R and 445F; the 600R and the 233, as well as derivatives of these hulls that went on to be produced under other boat builders. Many of the boats had either been restored to their retro profile, or rebuilt using modern-day production methods and optioned with cutting-edge electronics.

The social days are open to anyone with a Haines Hunter-built boat built up until 2000, with details of each state’s events published several months in advance on the Old School Haines Boats Facebook page.

But a final word of warning: Join the group and you may just be inspired to start that restoration project, or start tracking down that old family-favourite Haines Hunter you experienced as a kid with so many memories of those endless summers fishing and water-skiing with family and friends.