Charles Burns built the Burnscraft houseboat line for about 5 years, from late 69 to 1974, They were 34 ft to 50 ft with the 50 having a 15 ft beam. He sold the molds to Clyde Head at Harbormaster, who used them and later sold them to Holiday Mansion. Burnscraft Houseboats did not have a blister or Rot problem like most boats of that era. They were very good boats and bring a premium price today.

Information provided by the Pirate

My husband and I are looking at a 1976 model 32 foot Burnscraft.  _base_d upon what you are saying about the years they were built and the length, who would have been the actual boat builder?

I worked for BurnsCraft from 1979 to 1988 when BurnsCraft sold to SunRunner Boats I then worked for SunRunner until they went out of business.

Any Boat you find with the BurnsCraft name was built by BurnsCraft in its Muscle Shoals, Alabama plant. Until the last few years, all BurnsCraft boats were hand layed, I think the first chop gun we used was on the 38' yacht.

Altho the 32' and the 34' molds were sold no one has ever been authorized to use the name. BurnsCraft made houseboats untill the company was sold.

BurnsCraft bought NautilCraft in the early 1980's and built several NautiCraft houseboats with the BurnsCraft name.

Charls Burns Loved Yachts, he started building a sport, flybridge 41footer w/ 12 beam in the late 70's. This was the mainstay for about 5 years then we built a 40 footer with 14' beam. We displayed a 48 footer w/ 15' bean at the 1982 Miami Beach BoatShow. All yachts and houseboats were built only after ordered, all were custom equiped. The only active dealer we had for the yachts was in City Island, N.Y.

Charles and his brother Jerry sold most of the boats built. Most of the small houseboats went to Cal. but because a good deal were sold at the Miami Beach Show you will find BurnCraft in all parts of the country.

Charles had an heart attach during that show and because BurnsCraft was a small one owner business, the business started to suffer. BurnsCraft filled Bankrupt in 1986 and was bought by SunRunner Boats fron Spokan, Wa. Sunrunner started a branch here in Florence, Alabama. The company was called SunRunner Yachts. Burns had a new model 38 foot yacht in production when the company was sold. SunRunner Yachts only built the 38' yacht.

SunRunner Filed chapter 7 and went out of business in 1990. I purchased the BurnsCraft trade name from SunRunner Yachts.

I hope someone can find some use for this information. The last I heard about Charles was last summer, He was in the hospital in Huntsville, Alabama and not doing well.

bill greer
BG3566038775.422962963

Regarding the history by the Administrator, Burns-Craft Houseboats and Yachts were built for MORE than five years. Burns Manufacturing began building Burns-Craft products (First boat was a 31' HouseBoat, number one going to Florida and the second one going to Lake Dallas, Texas) in the spring of 1969 and continued construction until the early fall of 1986. Production was continuous in factories at the Muscle Shoal, Al Airport Industrial Park and at Lexington, Al. Charles Burns, my brother was President and I was Vice-President and General Manager. During the Seventies, a gradual shift was made to manufacturing Burns-Craft Cruisers and Yachts. These included Covertible Sedans, Sportfishermen and Aft Cabin Motor Yachts. During those two decades, Burns Manufacturing obtained molds and desiges of Gallion Houseboats of Pell City, Alabama and Nauti-Line Houseboats of Tennessee, later of Lexington, Alabama. Burns-Craft Houseboat molds and designs were sold to Harbormaster of Tennessee and the Cruiser/Yacht molds and designs were sold to SunRunner Yachts of Washington State. I reside in Plano, Texas and my brother, Charles has been in Cardio Vascular Intensive Care in the Huntsville (Alabama) Hospital since mid-2004.

Jerry W. Burns, Plano, Texas (known by many friends on Lake Texoma as "Burns Craft")
BurnsCraft38755.1528935185

Wow, thanks so much for the history. My husband and I did buy the 32' 1976 boat and have doing an overhaul. We have replaced the transom and stringers, rebuilt the Chris Craft engines and much more. We are currently replacing the sanitation system (not fun) and hope to be finished with this in a month. This boat was obviously well built and serves as our escape from the world on weekends. We live in Denison, Tx and keep the boat on Lake Texoma. We're not far from Plano and would love to show you the boat if you're ever in our area.

Carol Thornton (aka Boatgal)

I am trying to connect with Aquahome owners. Was CC Aquahome previously a burns craft ?

See

http://photobucket.com/albums/c189/unforgettable_crusing/

I just bought rebuilt chrysler 440s for her and need to to talt to someone in the know

Mitch

Chris Craft built houseboats from 1968 thru 1985 up to 50 feet. All examples I have seen used Chevy blocks with Vee Drives. The early models drove off the nose of the crank and the flywheel faced the rear of the boat. They may have built them with Chryslers but I am not aware of any.

The early models were prone to rot in the transom, stringers roofs and decks. Look for humping in the floor in the galley area.

The 1984/5 models were beautiful but the market went south and they didn't build very many.

What would cause a hump in the floor in the Galley area? We have the floor out of our Burnscraft HB as we are replacing the sanitation sytem, but it was warped when we removed it.

Boatgal