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Hacker-Craft is the name given to boats built by The Hacker Boat Co., the oldest builder of wooden motorboats in the world. It is an American company, founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1908 by John Ludwig Hacker (known as John L. Hacker or just "John L."). The company moved operations to New York State in the 1970s and continues to produce hand-built boats in Silver Bay, on the shores of Lake George, New York. John L. Hacker (1877–1961) was a naval architect and American motorboat designer. His major design and engineering accomplishments include the invention of the "V"-hull design and the floating biplane for the Wright brothers. Hacker's success in the design and building of speed craft surpassed all others of the time. ==John L. Hacker, the early years== Hacker was born in Detroit, Michigan on May 24, 1877. For four years, while working at his fathers business as a book-keeper, he attended night school and took a correspondence course in order to become an accredited marine designer. Once qualified (at the age of 22) he set about solving a number of problems that inhibited speed and performance in motor boats. Pleasure boats of the 1900 era were narrow, round bottomed launches that plowed through the water instead of planing over it as boats do nowadays. Hacker's first major task in boat design was to try to solve the problem of "squatting", which occurred with all the canoe-stern shaped powerboats of the 1900s. His theory was that if his boats were going to go fast, they would have to "plane" rather than plow through the water, but the tendency to plane was considered a highly dangerous mode that was to be avoided. Nonetheless, he built a test craft to prove his new theories—a runabout. The boat's propeller and rudder were mounted under the transom and a strut was used to position the propeller shaft. The boat also featured Hacker's revolutionary "V"-hull design, which produced stunning speed and efficiency at low horsepower. In 1904, he designed ''Au Revoir'', the fastest boat in the world at the time, and on August 12, 1908, building on this success, he founded the Hacker Boat Company in Detroit, upon purchasing and renaming 〔http://www.successmagazinesltd.com/archives/july10PDFs/HackerBoats.pdf〕 an existing firm, Detroit Launch and Power Company. Coincidentally, this was the same day on which the first ever Model T Ford automobile was produced by his friend, Henry Ford. His designs led to many advances that today's boat owners take for granted. Hacker's combination of design flair and engineering brilliance led him to create the shape and style that was to become the signature look of American speedboats. The list of his successes include: ''Pardon Me'', the ''Minute Man'', ''Thunderbird'', ''El Lagarto'', ''Bootlegger'', ''Peerless'', ''Dolphin'', ''Kitty Hawk'', ''Tempo VI'', the ''Belle Isle Bear Cats'', ''Lockpat II'', and ''My Sweetie''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hacker-Craft」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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