Aquasport, the first ten years – an initial history

[warrenltamargo]

When I ordered my AS 200 boat in 1987 I went to the factory in Hialea Florida to watch it being poored and built. It was exciting and when it was finished I was well pleased with its quality. They really did have all fiberglass stringers and no wood in the hull or transom.

[VidaMarBoats]

Walt Walters was 50% of the team that Ron Aronow made to design Formula, Donzi, Magnum Marine and so forth. This was where the 24 degree deep V design came from that revolutionized the boating world. Offshore powerboat racing birthed the design and influenced boating as a whole.

He most of been brought in to modify the bottoms and better performance for offshore use. Im sure he made changes to strakes and chimes too.

[Hoffmath]

When I first got my Aquasport (last year) I had a heck of a time finding any history on the brand until I found you-all. The only mention on Wikipedia is a brief reference on the Genmar page. Have "we" thought about creating a Wikipedia page? I would volunteer to compile some basics from here and submit it to a few of you long-time owners for review. Thoughts?

[RickK]

I have never messed with a Wiki page but do understand that it is open source for review and updates/correction. I don't think there is any other history of the origin except what you find here.  Please be advised that the Aquasport Brand is still alive and owned by Ebbtide holdings, so if we were to create a Wiki page I'm sure they would have to be a part of the decision.
Here is another source of some vague history. https://www.soundingsonline.com/news/aquasport-stops-building-boats

[Huffstutler]

Hello... I hope everyone is staying safe.   This is my first post and more of an introduction for now until I can elaborate.

I own the largest Facebook group related to Sarah Coventry jewelry.  I am writing a book about the history of its parent company CH Stuart out of Newark, NY.  The Stuart family was involved in over 50 different companies including Aquasport.  They purchased the company in 1965.  CH Stuart went bankrupt in 1981 and new owners brought it trough Chapter 11 bankruptcy but some divisions were either consolidated or sold off.  The CH Stuart link fills in some gaps on Auquasport's early history and I will expand on it in a follow-up post.  I am working from home and have an evening shift so will write again soon.

Eric Huffstutler

[RickK]

  Eric, this will be interesting to see what you can fill in, data wise. Feel free to reach out to me or Capt. Bob for help if you need it.

[RickK]

We have been getting a lot of members from Italy lately and I'm finding that they have models that weren't offered in the USA. One being a 250 Osprey around '84 witha console like we see on a 250 CCP and it has sink and stove at the front. Nothing we have has a 250 Osprey until '99 or '00. So there must have been specials sold in Europe. I have a member in Italy searching ebay over there for ads and catalogs. Maybe we'll find some new documents.