About Allison Boats

We have a long history of quality design and engineering.

Allison Boats has a long history of quality, ingenuity and record breaking engineering. Below are a few highlights for your enjoyment.

1917

The first Allison boat is built by James Allison

1955

The first outboard pleasure boat is built by Paul Allison

1962

The first Allison bass boat is built by Darris Allison

Record Breaking Speed

Outboard Pleasure Boat Records

1959

60+ mph record

1962

70+ mph record

1964

80+ mph record

1968

90+ mph record

1969

100+ mph record (twin)

1975

110+ mph record

1984

120+ mph record

1987

129+ mph record

Our First Pleasure Boat – Built To Win

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).

Innovation Leads to Success

1950’s

  • Paul Allison invents the “cupped propeller”
  • Paul Allison invents the hydraulic power trim

1960’s

  • Paul Allison invents the first v-bottom boat with pad

1970’s

  • Paul Allison invents the wing stabilizer for boats
  • Paul Allison invents the front foil on tunnel boats
  • Paul Allison invents the cupped skeg on engine lower unit

We have a long history of winning

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).

We Are the Pioneers of the Bass Boat

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

1962

1st pedestal seat for bass boat

1970

Darris built the first deep V pad bass boat an experimental 15′ tunnel a walk-thru windshield V bottom ski boat

1971

The walk-thru windshield boat was built with stern drive engines

1972

First tri-hull V-bottom 15′ became the most popular and most copied in the world

1973

First tri-hull V-bottom 17′

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

1975

Received first patent on outboard hull design

1975

1st V hull bass boat to break 100 mph with a single engine (two way average speed)

1970's

 1st set back jack plate

1970

1st all molded interior V-bottom pad bass boat

1972

1st offset transom

1972

1st in designing the modern layout for bass boats

1972

1st transducer box for depth finders

1975

1st single engine outboard to break 100 mph pleasure boat

1985

1st no rot construction in hull

1986

1st flippin deck bass boat

1986-1987

 1st steel reinforced no rot transom

mid-80′s

1st power trim in wheel w/concealed wiring

mid-90′s

1st side slide seat adjustment for driver

1994

 1st top cable foot throttle