Luhrs Moving Production to Millville

From now on, all the boats in the Luhrs Marine Group will be made in the company's main factory in Millville, New Jersey. This means the Luhrs fishing boats and Mainship trawlers that had been made in St. Augustine, Florida, will be produced in Millville along with the company's popular Silverton convertibles and motoryachts and the top-end Ovation motoryachts.

During a recent visit to the factory, Brett Marshall, vice president of sales and marketing for the Luhrs Marine Group, explained that the consolidation would make the company stronger and would ensure quality control on all models going forward. Marshall said everything, "other than the engines and the resin," would be made in Millville. He also said the privately owned company would emerge from the recession with a full line of boats ready for dealers and customers around the United States.

Over the years, Luhrs has become one of the most recognized and popular boat companies in the country. In addition to Luhrs fishing boats, from 29 to 50 feet, the company makes Silverton yachts, in the 30- to the 50-foot range, six models of Mainship trawlers in the same range and top-of-the-line Ovation yachts, now in 55- and 52-foot models. A German immigrant named Henry Luhrs started the company is the late 1800s. He built a chandlery and then shipbuilding yard in south Jersey. His two sons, John and Warren, now run the company.

In a sense, Marshall says, the consolidation in Millville is a return to the company's roots and its heritage. The message is the boats are "Jersey tough," he says, a theme that resonates across all four lines. (The company also makes Hunter sailboats in its St. Augustine factory.)

The next boat out of the Millville factory will be a Luhrs 34 fishing boat that Marshall says will launch in a few weeks and will be ready to compete in fishing tournaments later this summer. Indeed, it was almost ready on the factory floor. The company will complete two orders for Mainship 45 trawlers and then turn to a new Mainship 35 Pilot. Across the lineup, Silverton will upgrade its interiors, Marshall says, offering wenge wood, for example, instead of cherry, and then move to a 42 Silverton convertible for the fall along with its series of 35- and 40-foot boats. Silverton will continue with its 36 convertible, a new version of its popular 34 classic, one of the most popular boats it ever made. luhrs.com; silverton.com; mainship.com; ovationyachts.com