For the fictional runabouts of Star Trek, see Danube class starship. The name "runabout" was also used for a few antique cars.

A runabout is a small motorized boat holding between four and eight people, well suited to moving about on the water. Runabouts can be used for racing, for pleasure activities like fishing and water skiing or as a ship's tender for larger vessels.

History

The first runabouts date back to the 1920's and were originally small, fast, powerful varnished wooden boats created to take advantage of the power of outboard motors such as the first Evinrude, introduced in 1909.

In order to gain speed, the hull shape had to be redesigned to take advantage of hydroplaning; a hydrofoil-like design would allow the boat to skim atop the water's surface at high speed instead of needing to push aside large quantities of water to move forward.

Another design change which followed soon after was the replacement of the tiller and rudder control with a rudder controlled by a steering wheel, allowing the operator a comfortable forward-facing position. A remote lever to allow the engines to be placed into a reverse gear was another early innovation.

One 1920's runabout was the Gar Wood, named for its creator Garfield Wood, a racing enthusiast who had already made his fortune as an inventor developing hydraulics to allow trucks to dump their loads.

The early varnished-wood Chris-Craft runabouts were built by Christopher Smith, a former Gar Wood employee; by 1930 the runabouts were available with windshields to protect the cockpits and 125-horsepower engines built for speed.

Construction and materials

The use of aluminium in small boat construction came soon after World War II due to the ready availability of aircraft materials as war surplus. Fibreglass was then introduced as another way to reduce the weight of watercraft.

By 1960, wooden powerboats had become rare as most new vessels used fiberglass or other lightweight materials. Plastic materials are now used extensively in construction of small runabout boats to reduce weight and maximise speed when racing powerboats.

External links

• A history of outboard racing (http://www.seattleoutboard.org/offspring.html)
• Antique Boat Museum, Clayton NY (http://www.abm.org/Collection/launch.htm)
• Antique Outboarder archive (http://www.infoblvd.net/sah/Outboarder/1970/apr70-31.html)
• The Ventnor runabout (http://www.phillyseaport.org/workshop/ventnor_runabout.html)
• The Shelter Island runabout (http://thehamptons.com/main_street/runabout/lobsterboat.html)