Hunter Sailboats has its roots in the Luhrs family, with Warren Luhrs’s avid sailing. Warren decided that the sailing industry could benefit from production line manufacturing, hence releasing the premiere Hunter sailboat in 1973. Today, three facilities comprise the Hunter building yards: at Alachua, Florida, the Composite Technologies division in East Lyme, Connecticut, and the United Kingdom’s Luhrs Marine Limited. The Alachua facility constructs boats in the 24 to 50 foot range, while the East Lyme facility builds boats from 9 to 21 feet long, and the UK facility handles mid-size sailboat production. Hunter sailboats feature Kevlar® laminate from the stem to the keel sump, and pioneered the usage of stainless steel arches. Hunter is one of the initial recipients of Marine Industry Certification.