Behind the Build: Pursuit Boats

Pursuit’s 700 workers produce 700 boats a year. Dan Harding offers a glimpse into how they do it.

When you think of Pursuit, you probably conjure images of happy family memories made at the sandbar or blasting back from the canyon, speakers blaring. Some might imagine crossing the Gulf Stream for a weekend in the Bahamas, while others think of chasing fall stripers in the deep blue waters of New England. And then there are the 700-plus workers at Pursuit’s 500,000-square-foot factory in Ft. Pierce, Florida, who see these boats in a different light.

Clocking in between 5:00 and 6:30 a.m. each day, the Pursuit team (some would call it a small army) typically works 10-hour days Monday through Thursday, with overtime shifts available to those who seek them. Because each boat is built almost completely in-house—outside of propulsion and systems—the departments in this manufacturing facility are as diverse as the employees themselves. There are men and women on the floor, and fresh-faced teenagers working alongside seasoned veterans. And they seem to move in a quiet, carefully choreographed lockstep.

Consumer demand for Pursuit boats is unprecedented, according to the builder. That’s why the workforce has grown by 10 to 15 percent in the last four years.

Pursuit employs 700 people, and they work at wide-open throttle to keep up with their ever-growing order book as hundreds of new boats roll off the production line each year. The output is staggering if you stop to think about it. How is it possible? The answer seems to be the delicate and premeditated balance of skilled craftspeople, many of whom have been with Pursuit for decades; smart implementation of robotics; CNC machines that bring nearly the entire production process in-house; and a level of organization and engineering that borders on obsessive.

Mind and Muscle

In the wire-harness assembly department, there’s evidence of the way employees combine hand, eye, mind and muscle with precision skill and a fanatical attention to detail. Here, nearly a dozen people unroll wire from enormous spools, then weave it along a designated diagram. Miles of wire is arranged in a colorful maze—this is the circulatory system of each Pursuit. A single missed wire or imperfect connection could mean big problems for a boater out on the water. The team—all boasting big smiles—appears up for the challenge, with eyes darting back and forth and hands clipping and splicing quickly and efficiently.

There are more skilled hands in the upholstery department. When it comes to working with a boat’s soft goods, you might think the job is simple, but that’s far from the case. Pursuit’s designers know that comfortable seating in any kind of sea directly correlates to the customer experience. Every cushion is carefully designed with a mélange of foams and fabrics. Those ingredients, once cut by a CNC machine, are stitched together by dozens of skilled hands.

Cutting-Edge (Literally) Robotics

While most of the boats are built with hands and muscle, robotics and CNC machines play a pivotal (and growing) role in allowing Pursuit to complete two new boats each day. An enormous CNC machine, for example, is a key player in the multi-day process of building a new hull mold. In the past, Pursuit relied on an outside vendor to produce these molds, but not anymore.

In the fiberglass department, a seasoned Pursuit veteran will dance with an enormous robotic router that cuts and labels sections of a fiberglass “kit.” That employee will then neatly stack the pieces, which get carted off to other departments, to be laid throughout a boat. A similar process occurs simultaneously in carpentry, where man and machine cut and assemble kits for cabinetry.

Obsessive Organization and Engineering

The average age of each model in Pursuit’s lineup is now three years; that’s exceptionally young when you consider that there are 16 models in the builder’s portfolio, some of which have enjoyed long and successful production runs. How does the Ft. Pierce builder turn out so many boats without sacrificing quality while continuing to develop new models? According to Chris Gratz, vice president of operations and engineering, it comes down to commitment to obsessive organization and a passionate engineering and design team.

All new models start out the same way, with a mock-up. That could be a small cardboard model that can travel between conference rooms for review. Other times, it’s a full-size plywood facsimile that allows the design and engineering team to walk through and feel the space. Countless data points are considered during this mock-up process, including feedback from owners and dealers, warranty information, industry trends and, perhaps most importantly, boatbuilding best practices.

“We’re finding the people to fill our positions,” says Gratz. “As we’re growing, we must make sure we’re training and bringing the workforce up with us. We have several programs that are targeting that, including a training program for our supervisors and managers. We have about 60 people in that program to help develop our leadership. Of our 700 employees we had 98 internal promotions over the last year. The employee base is critical to what we do. Ultimately that translates into what we build and value for our customers.”

An increase in orders for boats and demand for larger models are fueling the need for more manpower at Pursuit. There’s also an increased demand for ever-higher top speeds. That brought the design team back to the drawing board a few years ago to reevaluate how to engineer for higher horsepower. The team developed a hull patent to accommodate the power demands of consumers.

“There’s a secondary piece that bonds to the stringer before we even set the transom in the boat,” explains Gratz. “What we’re doing there is creating good longitudinal continuity between a boat’s transom structure and the longitudinal structure [overbuilt and infused 6-inch-wide stringers]. Our goal is for the engine loads to transfer through the entirety of the hull, not just sit in the transom itself. That innovation was driven when Yamaha first came out with their 350s. As horsepower grew, we grew. And we adapted that technology.”

Towards the end of my tour, I came across the builders new 405. It was a fitting way to conclude a walk through all the different areas and disciplines of the factory. The boat’s outboards, triple 450-hp Yamaha XTOs were still covered in protective wrap, the helm seats were being finished. Hatches and doors were missing, tools were scattered about but you could clearly see how quickly and completely everything comes together.

The 405’s predecessor, the 385, had enjoyed an almost historic 12-year production run. Replacing such a popular model is always a daunting task but, as they always do, Pursuit looked to owner and dealer feedback to ensure it would be a success. Two areas where the boat saw significant refinement are in the seating and outdoor social spaces. Engineers incorporated both additional aft facing seating and reversible aft/forward seating at the helm. They also knew previous 385 owners ran the gamut from weekend warriors to serious coastal cruisers, and that they needed to incorporate additional stowage for the latter category.

Just a couple short weeks after I saw her completing production the 405 would debut at the brand’s dealer meeting and then to the world at the Lauderdale show three months after. I would meet the 405 again at that show but I would not be alone. Throughout the show, thousands of boaters stepped through the new model. Primed and polished, she was a striking addition to the fleet.

I spent the boat show watching all those showgoers flooding into the Pursuit booth during the show and cascading over the transoms of their various models while new owners put down deposits for the boat of their dreams. They’ll be living out their dreams on the water—fishing with friends, cruising with family and passing the water gene onto the next generation of boaters. If you tour the builder’s Ft. Pierce facility, you’ll come away with an appreciation for the other dreams that Pursuit fulfills—those of its employees. These dedicated craftsmen receive competitive pay and myriad benefits like a quarterly bonus program, and they also find a place where they can grow, move up and evolve. And, when they punch out at the end of the day, they take with them pride in knowing they’re a part of something bigger than themselves, they know they built something truly great.

This article originally appeared in the January 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/boats/pursuit-boats-profile-of-an-american-boatbuilder