Boat building set to return to former Hunter Marine Florida base

A&M Manufacturing and StyleCraft Boats are moving their joint partnership to the Marlow-Hunter facility in Alachua, Florida.

The location, originally built as the home for Hunter Marine, is a 210,000 square foot manufacturing plant that built more than 1,400 boats a year and employed a workforce of over 400 at its peak.

StyleCraft’s Billy Chapman, a Fisherman’s Hall of Fame member, has been an outfitter for more than 35 years and is renowned for his design of fibreglass hybrid and sport fishing pontoon boats.

John Hemken became owner of A&M Manufacturing in 2018 and operates a factory-direct production model. He credits David Marlow of Marlow-Hunter for the opportunity to bring boat building back into the Florida facility. Marlow-Hunter has also transferred the production of some of its boats to A&M Manufacturing.

The partnership, formerly located at Chiefland, Florida, is creating the new StyleCraft family of fibreglass-hulled pontoon boats. The transition to Alachua is underway and is planned to be fully operational by the end of this month.