Skiff Maker Action Craft Stops Production

Although it appears that Action Craft will continue doing warranty work and servicing current customers, they announced on their Web site that they have “temporarily stopped production” due “to economic conditions beyond our control, and a prolonged recession in the marine industry.”
My first guide skiff was a twice-used Action Craft that I purchased in Fort Myers in 1985. It had the signature sloped gunwhale decks and a 90 Yamaha that had been handed down from Stu Apte. It was a very fishy hull that I just lucked into. Action Craft was a pioneer in flats skiff design at a time when not every 18-foot boat in Florida had a poling platform on top of a too-large engine. Their only real competition came from Bob Hewes, whose boats used a more classic faux-lapstrake hull design, and Dolphin, whose Super Skiff is still used by a number of Florida Keys guides. Maverick Boats, of course, later bought out Hewes, and came to dominate the skiff market.