Hacker Boat Company told local media it plans to double its workforce after moving into a new production facility in Queensbury, New York. The wooden runabout builder and Warren County Economic Development Corp (EDC) recently finalized an agreement to build a US$3m 90,000sq ft facility in Queensbury Business Park.
The Post Star said details of the project were revealed last Friday at a news conference. Hacker Craft will shut down its existing 32,000sq ft facility and another boat repair shed in Ticonderoga as it moves operations to Queensbury. Hacker Craft will continue to operate its marina at Silver Bay on Lake George.
Hacker CEO George Badcock told the paper that its 45-person workforce will increase to 80 “over the next couple of years, as we expand our line of boats and start to build bigger boats.”
Badcock said the company will require different skill sets. “Some on the mechanical side, but a lot of woodworkers — and woodworkers is a broad term — but within woodworking, there’s a lot of different craftsman,” he told the paper. “When they’re building bigger boats and yachts, there’s a lot of specialized woodworkers. We’ll be looking to hire more of those types of people as the boats get a little bit fancier and more intricate.”
State Senator Elizabeth Little said Badcock’s vision for Hacker Craft was expansive. “It’s a huge investment,” she told the paper, adding that the company would have 10 years to add 25 jobs in order to receive a US$600,000 tax credit.
Badcock said the new facility would allow an increase production from the current rate of 15 to 20 boats per year. “There’s a market for wooden boats up to 39 and 45 feet, so we’ve designed some larger boats we’ll be building,” he said. “We just can’t build them in the facility we’re in. It’s physically not possible.”
By press release through IBI
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