Chris-Craft Commander: History, Models and Classic Buying Guide

Why the Chris-Craft Commander Club exists

Few production cruisers have an owners' group as active as the Chris-Craft Commander Club. It began in February 1999 as an online forum and email list, grew into annual rendezvous, local meets, a newsletter called Styled in Fiberglass, a model registry and a deep online archive of manuals and maintenance know-how, and it remains dues-free. Members come mostly from the United States, with others in Australia, Sweden, Italy, France and Britain.

The reason is the boats. The Commander name marks the moment Chris-Craft, the company that defined the mahogany runabout, committed to fiberglass. The club counts Commander models from 19 to 60 feet, and Soundings notes that the fleet eventually reached 60 feet. For a buyer, that history means parts knowledge, owner advice and a ready market of enthusiasts.

A secret project in Holland, Michigan

Chris-Craft had experimented with fiberglass by 1955, but as Power and Motoryacht's history puts it, early attempts had not worked out. By the early 1960s America's biggest boatbuilder was losing ground to Hatteras, Bertram, Boston Whaler and Sea Ray, whose glass boats promised low maintenance while Chris-Craft salesmen still preached wood.

In 1962, Soundings reports, Chris-Craft set up a fiberglass research center in Pompano, Florida, and a Fiberglass and Tooling Activity Division in Holland, Michigan, under longtime designer and engineer Bill Mackerer. The work was done in strict secrecy: shop windows were sealed, doors locked, and not even dealers were told. The company had been sold by the Smith family in 1960, and its new owners needed a modern product.

The 1964 Commander 38: specs and price

The result debuted in 1964: the 38-foot Commander express cruiser, Chris-Craft's first all-fiberglass inboard cruiser and one of the biggest fiberglass boats in production at the time. It kept the brand's signature rounded bow and smooth horizontal lines on a gleaming white hull, so it looked like a Chris-Craft while being built like nothing the company had made before.

Soundings gives the details. The modified-V hull was about an inch thick, power was twin 210 or 275 hp V-8s for a top speed in the 20s, tankage was 200 gallons of fuel and 75 of water, and draft was just 3 feet. The Commander slept six using a master stateroom, a convertible day sofa and the dinette, had two heads, and a galley with a refrigerator, three-burner electric range and oven. A flybridge was optional. Prices were $29,990 with the 210s and $31,990 with the 275s.

Chris-Craft built 262 Commander 38s from 1964 to 1969, in express, sedan and sportfish versions, then redesigned the boat and kept it in production through the mid-1970s.

• 1964 Commander 38: twin 210 or 275 hp V-8s, top speed in the 20s
• 200 gallons fuel, 75 gallons water, 3-foot draft
• Sleeps six with two heads
• 262 built from 1964 to 1969

The 35 Commander sport bridge, a Great Lakes favorite

The 35 Commander is the best-documented smaller model, and its specifications are the ones shown on this page. Soundings reports that more than 164 were built between 1969 and 1972. It measures 35 feet overall with a 13-foot beam, 3-foot draft, 14,500 pounds displacement, 175 gallons of fuel and 70 of water, and came with twin 230 hp GM-based Chris-Craft V-8 gasoline engines.

The layout is classic late-1960s family cruiser. An aft deck about 10 feet wide sits on the same level as a hardtop-covered bridge deck with a lower helm to port and a companion bench to starboard, and a centerline ladder climbs to a flybridge. Below, a dinette converts to a double, a lounge converts to upper and lower bunks, the L-shaped galley has an electric stove, oven, sink and refrigerator, the head has a shower, and an owner's V-berth sits forward behind a door.

One owner profiled by Soundings repowered with 425 hp Crusaders and found the boat squirrely until a yard ground down a built-in trim lip at the transom edge. It is a good example of the kind of model-specific knowledge the Commander Club exists to share.

The 2016 revival: Commander 42

Chris-Craft reclaimed the name in 2016 for an all-new Commander 42, developed in a joint venture with Italian builder Austin Parker. Unlike the classics, it was a New England lobster-style open boat with twin Volvo Penta IPS600 D6 engines of 435 hp each, two cockpit areas, one open aft and one under a hardtop that could be enclosed with sliding doors, a large bow sunbed, a cockpit galley, sleeping for five below and a head with separate shower.

Chris-Craft announced plans for a Commander 36 and Commander 52 to follow in 2017. Power and Motoryacht ran the new 42 alongside the rest of the Chris-Craft fleet in Sarasota that summer. The Commander does not appear in Chris-Craft's current lineup of Launch, Calypso, Corsair, Catalina and Sportster models, so the 42 should be treated as a short-run modern model, not a continuation of the classic line.

Buying a classic Commander today

A 1960s or 1970s Commander is a 50 to 60-year-old boat, and the hull is usually the least of the problems. Solid fiberglass laminates of that era are thick and forgiving, while engines, fuel tanks, wiring, plumbing and wood structures such as stringers, transoms and deck cores are where money disappears.

Original gasoline V-8s should be considered end-of-life unless rebuilt or replaced, and many boats have been repowered. Fuel tanks from the period deserve particular scrutiny. Rewiring to modern standards, as the Soundings owners did with a new breaker panel and network wiring, is a major but worthwhile job.

Budget for the restoration you want before you buy. A cheap Commander can easily absorb several times its purchase price, which is why a boat whose previous owner already spent that money is often the better deal.

Running costs and what Commanders are worth

Running costs depend almost entirely on engines and condition. Twin gasoline V-8s on a 35 to 38-foot cruiser are thirsty, and annual budgets of roughly $8,000 to $25,000 for storage, insurance, maintenance and fuel are realistic before any restoration work.

Values are modest for unrestored boats and much stronger for documented restorations, especially early 38 Commanders with their historical significance. Club registries and rendezvous awards help establish provenance and can support a higher price.