Allison Boats has a long history of quality, ingenuity and record breaking engineering. Below are a few highlights for your enjoyment.
Click here to read the History of Allison Boats as told by Paul Allison.
Allison Boats "FIRSTS"
Paul Allison in a 1960 model runabout
Outboard Pleasure Boat Records
60+ mph record in 1959
70+ mph record in 1962
80+ mph record in 1964
90+ mph record in 1968
100+ mph record(twin) in 1969
110+ mph record in 1975
120+ mph record in 1984
129+ mph record 1987
It all started when some local boaters got together on the weekend and raced each other in their wood or aluminum boats. Paul Allison always wanted to outrun everyone there.
One day someone gave him an old rotten wood boat which he promptly took apart, carefully saving the screws and hardware. After discarding the rotten wood, he began building his own wooden boat, using the screws and hardware he had saved. This boat outran any boat he had previously raced!
The year was 1955.
With a taste of success he wanted to try and make the boat run even faster. He built another boat with a hull utilizing more of his own ideas and it outran the last one he had built. His friends began to ask him to build a boat for them since his was faster than anyone else's.
After being seriously injured from a gunshot wound on a hunting trip and spending several months in recovery, he decided to leave the auto body business and build boats, since there was a demand for a wood boat that would outrun other boats.
In 1959 Paul built his last wood boat, but not without being the first to break 60 mph in a production pleasure boat, setting a straightaway speed record of 61.8 mph with a stock 80 hp!
In 1960 fiberglass became available for boat building and he built his first 14' fiberglass boat (pictured above).
Allison Boats has won more races and set more speed records than all other current manufacturers combined. Hundreds of straightaway and track records and thousands of races won (circle, drag and marathon).
NOA Record Holder | Class 90-100V | Speed 83.768mph | 10-5-1975
Bass Boats "FIRSTS"
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1962 |
Darris took a mold his Dad had discarded and built a 13' fishing boat. He later added a 14' and 16' model which he built up until 1969.
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1962 |
1st pedestal seat for bass boat
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1970 |
Darris built the first deep V pad bass boat an experimental 15' tunnel
a walk-thru windshield V bottom ski boat
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1971 |
The walk-thru windshield boat was built with stern drive engines
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1972 |
First tri-hull V-bottom 15' became the most popular and most copied in the world
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1973 |
First tri-hull V-bottom 17'
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1974 |
First pod tunnel which later became a mod VP style racing boat. This boat set a speed record of 73 mph with an 80 hp motor in 1974.
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1975 |
Received first patent on outboard hull design
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1975 |
1st V hull bass boat to break 100 mph with a single engine
(two way average speed)
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1970's |
1st set back jack plate
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1970 |
1st all molded interior V-bottom pad bass boat
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1972 |
1st offset transom
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1972 |
1st in designing the modern layout for bass boats
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1972 |
1st transducer box for depth finders
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1972 |
1st center mounted remote Control livewell
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1975 |
1st single engine outboard to break 100 mph pleasure boat
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1985 |
1st no rot construction in hull
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1986 |
1st flippin deck bass boat
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1986-87 |
1st steel reinforced no rot transom
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mid-80's |
1st power trim in wheel w/concealed wiring
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mid-90's |
1st side slide seat adjustment for driver
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1994 |
1st top cable foot throttle
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