My 1978 17' Chris Craft Lancer ~ Stinger
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The History of the Chris Craft Lancer:
In general, Chris Craft built their Lancer line from 1968-1977. The hull's design, with a 24 degree, deep-V was designed by Jim Wynne,
long time power boat racer.
The hull design made Lances great racing boats, made them one of Chris Craft's most popular boats.
Chris Craft made 1135 Lancer units, of varying lengths, over the next 10 years.
Many with stylist Dick Avery doing the cockpit and interior designs.
The details about how much or which of Jim Wynne’s partners contributed to the
creation of the 1969 Chris-Craft 25-foot Lancer’s design have been lost. While it may matter to some of his team-members, Wynne was hired for his expertise as much as his name.
The Wynne name was synonymous with victory and translated to sales. And, ultimately, Wynne is still credited, solely, by Chris-Craft as the hull’s designer.
According to the NY Times, Wynne was a designer and winning powerboat racer whose, “engineering developments in creating and perfecting deep-V hulls… proved a boon to millions of pleasure and military craft worldwide.” In addition to the Chris-Craft Lancer, he and his team also created the Formula 233 and the Donzi 16 (along with other Donzi models, such as the Donzi 28).
Wynne's team also conceived the boats that became the Magnum 35, Maritime’s aluminum 32-footer, and the wooden racer, Ghost Rider.
Due to Chris-Craft’s limited experience with fiberglass, they turned to freelancer Wynne to design their
new hull for the Lancer line. It was a decision necessitated by the cost - and demand-driven shift from wood to fiberglass in the boating industry. Wynne conceived and fine-tuned the Lancer’s ride. The result being that she rides well in a rough chop, an integral part of the boat’s practical nature.
Beginning in ‘69, Jim Wynne’s 25’ Lancer was available in three models, with between 75-85 units of each model produced during their respective production runs. The Sportsman model, was their top seller at the time,
but it wasn’t all Wynne’s work. Chris-Craft’s in-house crew styled the boat’s deck and interior.
Head designer and Stylist, Dick Avery, began working at Chris-Craft in 1962, after a three-year stint at Ford Motor Company. From the interior spaces and the deck design down to details like a toe rail (or the lack of one), Avery and his internal team were in charge.
On this 25’ 1” long by 9 ’8” beam boat you’ll find some fixed seating, but owners often add portable deck chairs and a table to get the best use of her open cockpit. The Lancer Sportsman has built-in storage lockers as well as under-gunwale storage for mops, fishing poles and personal flotation devices.
The power package on the 25’ Lancer is a single Chevy V-8 mated to a Mercury Marine Alpha
stern drive, which is actually an update, using a combination for which replacement parts are readily available. Originally, Chris-Craft sold its boats with an engine and outdrive package named
"Transdrive". Some believe that Chris-Craft branded all of its stern drive packages from all of its established manufacturers as Transdrives – power packages that included the Eaton brand, Volvo-Penta, and Mercury Marine drives. Either single or twin engines/drives were available.
The smoothness of the finish on early Chris-Craft fiberglass boats was originally, and remains, outstanding. The molds used to build their boats were really polished and buffed beyond the competition’s standards. Engaging Wynne, through the use of both his name and designs, enabled Chris-Craft to dramatically promote its shift from building wood boats to all-fiberglass construction.
The Stinger, however,
came stock with a GM marinized 305 C.I V-8 Motor and a Marine Power
(Volvo-Penta) Model 280 Stern drive. Dick Avery, designed the interior and
cockpit of the Stinger with bucket seats and a bench that sat three people, in
front of a sun pad/engine cover.
(Perhaps a sign of things to come,
as all post 1978 Chris Craft Scorpions had sun pads as engine covers).
