Burger Boat Company splashed Hull No. 1 of the custom Burger 48 Cruiser a short while back. The boat was in some ways a departure for the Wisconsin-based shipyard, which has been known recently for far larger builds, yet the builder’s DNA remained visible in the smaller boat. Reviews at the time spoke of style, craftsmanship and performance, all hallmarks of the Burger brand.
Last summer, Passagemaker Editor-in-Chief Andrew Parkinson made a special trip to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of Burger Boat Company to visit with the iconic builder. He found Manitowoc to be a quiet city steeped in boatbuilding tradition. Spend even a small amount of time there and you’ll likely meet plenty of folks who share last names. There’s a palpable sense of pride among the locals, many of whom descend from generations of Great Lakes shipbuilders. And many of them—fathers, mothers, sons, daughters—work at Burger. With that level of pride, it’s no surprise that the brand’s custom builds carry a reputation of being among the finest vessels to hit the water.
In an exclusive Virtual Boat Show interview above, Parkinson and Cleveringa discuss boatbuilding during the pandemic, Great Lakes shipbuilding tradition, the benefit of building custom, Vripack’s revolutionary Slide Hull design and the new Burger 50 Cruiser, which is currently in-build at the shipyard.
Based on Burger’s luxurious aluminum cruiser series developed in conjunction with Vripack Naval Architects, the new 50 Cruiser features an exquisite interior designed by Luiz De Basto of De Basto Designs.
