History of a classical Dutch nautical brand

1900  -  1920   The Start

The 3 brothers Wolfrat; Jan, Johan and Aart decide to begin with their own 'Luxury motorboat company' and organize the first boat tours(Rondvaart) in Amsterdam, with their 4 boats, moored next to the famous 'Amstel Hotel'

In 1904 Jan started a shipyard nearby and experimented with several designs until he developed a series of smaller sport boats. The company became an exclusive agent for the famous Thornycroft motors, which found their way into the boats.

1920  -  1940   Next Steps

A prosperous company, Wolfrat started building the very modern 'Amstelkruisers' in 1925 (till end of the '30s) . Several acquisitions were needed to accommodate the ever increasing demand for the 'Amstelkruisers'. The name of the company changed into 'Jachtwerf Wolfrat'.

The famous Ford-T-motors were adapted by Jan, who invented the special nautical carburateur which became very popular and built in serie to be put into the boats. The wharf delivered 2 or 3 steel vessels a year.

The largest vessel on the Dutch Hiswa nautical fair of 1936 was the Wolfrat Amstelkruiser. The first small international export steps were made.

1936 also marked the entrance of Jan Albert Wolfrat into the company. He started building very fast smaller wooden sportboats (16ft) equipped with the increasingly popular outboard motors(10HP); he was also the first to import them from the USA.

1940  -  1950   Wartime

The '40s were characterized by the decreasing availability of steel and motors and the lack of fuel. Wolfrat transformed during the war into a wharf for sailingboats.

After the war, in 1947, Wolfrat picked up where they left and used their extensive experience to build the first inboard-runabouts. They miraculously transformed tankmotors into fast boat-motors.

The domestic market for sportboats was difficult and brought to light the export-possibilities. Wolfrat adopted the internationally better sounding name of 'SportCraft'  and soon the boats found their way to places like Indonesia, Mozambique and Greece, etc.

1950  -  1960   Waterskiing

Several types of runabouts, varying from 16 to 21ft, were built, among others for international royalty, starting with HRH. Prince Bernhard, who used a SportCraft as a tender for the royal yacht 'Jumbo'

Waterskiing and watersports as a form of leisure became evermore popular and drove the demand. Several brands fought for the market, amongst which, Riva, Boesch and SwissCraft. It's very important to notice that Wolfrat was an established Runabout-builder even before Riva and the others became famous as a film-star-boats. This is often overlooked.

1960  -  1970   Weekends

The '60s were the golden era of Wolfrat boats and several new series saw the light, such as the 'Imperial', the 'Weekender', the 'Express', the 'Continental', the 'Super-Continental' and the 'Impala'.