larslindroth

In this thread I look forward hearing from Glasstream Powerboat owners, your memories interacting with the Kirkland Family and A.L. Kirkland's racing days in the 1980's 'till early 1990's. I was watching an excellent video, as always, by Stu Jones of Florida Powerboat Club fame. Stu did a factory visit at Glasstream Powerboats and interviewed founder A.L. Kirkland, his daughter/plant mgr. Amy and the CEO Kruis Retherford. I knew very little about Glasstream before Stu's factory tour. Their smaller center console boats started appearing in boat test videos a few years back and the last couple of years their 32' and 36' CC have got tested frequently. Myself being out in California I'm used to the same type of smaller family owned smaller boat manufacturers. The last 15 years however many have either had a difficult generational ownership shift that failed and/or the U.S. economy and tough regulations did them in. The Kirkland family's boat building story warmed my heart and it made me sincerely hope for them to survive the current tougher times and all other little family boating industry businesses that thrive due to their owners' hard labor and love for what they do.




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larslindroth

I had seen the footage of A.L. Kirkland's 1990 season 32' race boat for years, found it very different and cool looking, so when I realized that he was the man behind Glasstream I read a little bit more about it. What I gathered is not much, but if I meet A.L,the man, one day I bet I get the full, true story. Anyways this is my findings so far; the 32' boat of the "Turn Of The Century Race Team", originated in 1980 by making a hull mold off a 26 Monza by Baron Marine in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Baron Marine built only one 26' boat before the economy went sour and a fellow named Jack Boerman eventually bought the mold. This was back in about 1981/1982.

Boerman leased space from Glenn Bouwens in a 40,000 square foot building located at 581 Roosevelt Avenue in Zeeland. Initially Boerman had constructed boats branded under the Century Boat Company name. After that contract ended, Boerman started building the Monza derived 26' boats. He made 6 of them branded as Mirage Bandit II and powered by two small block 350 h.p. Chevrolet V8s, until financial debt to the Bouwens family resulted in them taking over all assets of the company in 1986. Glenn Bouwens served as president and Boerman was kept on as mold maker and production manager for the company. The two models they initially produced for the 1987 model year were former Mirage brand Bandit models, now called the Ultra I, measuring 23 feet, and the twin engine powered Bandit II, now with redesigned deck and transom by Boerman and called Ultra II.

In 1987, the company also hired Ted Essenburg and appointed him general manager of about 12 employees, including Charles Francis, a former Century Boat Company employee, who served as sales manager. Under his direction, the company developed a larger line of boats to attract a wider customer base for the 1988 model year. The new models, also designed by Boerman, included the twin engine powered 32' Ultra III, a 22' ski boat model called the Cutlass, and more traditional model called the Heritage, which measured 18 feet and was modeled after the Century branded Resorter model, including the straight shaft drive or inboard/outboard engine outdrive option. All of the models were powered either by single or twin inboard/outboard engines and outdrives. The interiors were manufactured by local upholstery company Holland Awning to reduce costs. The base price for the smallest to the larges ranged from $20,000 to $60,000. Eventually, the company moved out of Zeeland to a smaller factory space in Holland Township at 13327 Quincy Street, and stopped production in 1989. All equipment and assets sold to StarCraft., according to Jim Bouwens. Estimates place the total number of boats produced between 1987-1989 at about 90.

I've read that A.L. Kirkland supposedly worked for Century Boats for a while, but the story of how he decided to race a 26' Ultra II in 1989 and then redigned the bottom of the Ultra III with an incorporated step to make his winning 32' "Turn Of The Century Race Team" is still to be told by him or the fans of Glasstream Powerboats. One thing is for sure, A.L. Kirkland knows a lot about how to make a boat perform, and look fantastic while doing so.






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larslindroth

A little more racing from 1990 in the 32-footer.

resurrected

Thank you for the history lesson!
I have the 1990 Ultra III, some aspects of the boat are very well done, others are typical 90's non respirator wearing tech's mass production crap
I'm in the process of installing the engines after freshening, and trying to do some repairs to make it safe. If I am happy with the result I will do a full restoration in a couple of years.

resurrected

A friend of mine has brochures from Century, the Ultra III did not appear in the '90 or '92. Only in '91

larslindroth

Thanks for sharing the broshure Jason. I hope you get your boat sorted out. Nice driveline and the looks of these boats are unique and very cool imho. Look forward folliowing your resto thread. Best of luck with her.

Twin O/B Sonic

One of the yrs that my 2 yr Sonic restoration (outside in Fla) tried to kick my ass, my wife took me to the Miami show to “buy” a boat.

This would have been ‘2008/09.

We looked at and really, really liked a 30’ish, twin OB Glasstream.
I found myself looking at a boat built by a co. I knew nothing about.

Thought I knew them as cheap/production builder but what I saw was different.

dobber

Thanks for the post. My wife and I bought a brand new BowWinds Ultra 1 back in the day with the 7.4. I loved that boat!! Wish I never sold it. Tried to find it a few years ago but with all the privacy laws, no luck. I picked up a Stracraft brochure with those models. they rename them Startron.

larslindroth

The Starcraft Startron I and II models were designed by Art Carlson and share nothing with the BowWinds Ultra models, except the look of the transom swimsteps.

dobber

The Starcraft Startron 2 &3 sure look like the Bowwinds Ultra 1 and 2.