Hunt James has been a lot of things over the course of his 55 years—an investment banker, a marketing strategist, a financial adviser, a serial entrepreneur, a philanthropist and an investor—but he’s never not been a boat guy.

“Oh, man, I have owned so many boats,” he says. “I love boats. I’m an absolute boataholic. Yeah, I mean, I started off, I had a jon boat. I sailed prams when I was a kid. I had a couple of Wellcraft bowriders. I’ve had an Ocean Master. I’ve had a Hatteras 54. I’ve had one of our 34s, one of our 52s. I’ve had a lot of boats.” His wife and two grown children share his love of the sea. “We’re all water bugs.”

James’ water-based passions focus on traditional rod-and-reel fishing, spearfishing and free diving. He enjoys boating with family and friends, especially in the Bahamas. Back in the mid-2000s, he set out to find a boat that suited his needs at the time, but nothing on the market rang his bell. He decided to take matters into his own hands. In 2008, he added boatbuilder to his CV when he started the company now called Gulf Crosser Yachts.

“There just wasn’t, there still isn’t anything exactly like what we’re doing,” James says. “I want to have a dance party going on in the front of the boat or be catching a tuna in the back of the boat, and the people who don’t want any part of that can be sitting inside having lunch in the air conditioning. That’s what I wanted, and it didn’t exist. So, I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll go build it myself.’”

That boat was what became the Gulf Crosser 52. The company also developed a traditional open center console 34. Many competitors made good boats, but James describes himself as an innovator, creating boats different from what was already in the market.

“The 34 was just another boat that I needed while we finished up developing the 52,” he says. “Almost all of the boats we have created thus far were designed for my personal use, but they seem to be meeting the needs of lots of other customers too.”

James says the company has historically been a small-volume, high-quality builder. He weathers gyrations in the economy through the company’s positioning at the top end of the market, paying cash for everything and carrying no debt. Gulf Crosser has a full-time workforce of about a dozen people. It outsources many of its functions to vendors that can achieve the quality standards the company demands. Gulf Crosser has delivered 22 boats since 2008. Hull No. 10 of the 52 is about to go into the molds.

James holds the title of CEO, but he has a longtime boatbuilder running all the operations. He says that in the early years, the company was more of a side business for him, but now is his primary focus. He’s exploring ways to meet increasing demand while maintaining high standards.

The 52 had a long gestation period, due in part to trying to source a reliable multiple-outboard power package James liked. The first hull made its debut at the Miami boat show in 2018. As more types of higher-horsepower engines came online, the 52—and James—became happier. He says Mercury’s 600-horsepower monsters were a game changer.

Speed is the driver for some owners of today’s breed of multiple-outboard center consoles, but James favors the four- or five-motor installations on the 52 for something else.

“I wanted the redundancy of outboards so if I’m in the Bahamas and a motor breaks, I don’t want that to impact my trip,” he says. “I want to be able to run the boat without any sacrifices there for the rest of my week and then fly out, and it’s someone else’s problem. We’ve seen that play out, and it works great.”

Ward Setzer designed the 52 with a Michael Peters-licensed stepped hull. Key features include a walkaround design with wide passageways and high gunwales to provide safe, easy access forward; a climate-controlled pilothouse with solid glass windows; a cockpit large enough to accommodate a rocket launcher and still have room for serious anglers to work; foam-filled cavities throughout to provide additional flotation and insulation for fishboxes integrated into the deck; and access to the lower cabin without having to go outside.

Other highlights include three-piece construction; a lie-flat sunpad in the bow, recessed deep into the pilothouse structure so it doesn’t obscure the captain’s vision; a single-level sole throughout the salon and helm; doors on either side of the pilothouse; and a U-shape seating area abaft the doors so the captain can enter and exit from either side without disturbing guests seated at the table.

“I thought about the 52 design for over a decade, based upon countless hours of experience on the water over the course of my life, so I knew exactly what I wanted,” he says.

The company also introduced a model called the 42 SUV, which has a Michael Peters hull and has been popular as a yacht tender.

“At first glance, it appears to be a traditional center console, but it’s actually a very unique boat because we made the second row of seating and prep station a removable module so the boat could be used for a variety of purposes,” James says. “We integrated a pair of removable carbon-fiber davits into the structure so that two WaveRunners can be lifted into the cockpit and guests can be taken by the crew to spots far away from where the main yacht is moored. The boat is also great for transporting provisions or other cargo back and forth.”

Two 44s are in build now. The model is suitable for use as a tender, as well.

“The 44 is the next model we introduced at the request of customers who loved what we created with the 52, but needed something smaller for a variety of reasons such as wanting to be able to tow it behind a superyacht, or needing to fit it at their dock or on their existing boat lift,” he says.

All Gulf Crossers are semi-custom. They’re available in fiberglass or aluminum and are configured as sedans, flybridges or traditional open center consoles. The company can also offer other configurations if a customer wants, say, a full-beam salon instead of the walkaround design.

“The enclosed walkaround designs are definitely our specialty, but every boat is built to order, and we use modular designs so we can build pretty much whatever a customer wants,” James says. “Some people say that they aren’t center consoles because they have an enclosed pilothouse, but we offer the option of leaving the glass off and opening the sides of the pilothouse.

“We try to say yes to any request as long as a customer understands that there is a cost to doing extreme modifications,” he adds. “And we also offer the option of fully custom boats if nothing in our semi-custom lineup meets a customer’s particular needs.”

The inspiration for all Gulf Crossers springs from what swims below the surface.

“Anything we build, even if it’s ultimately going to be a cruiser for the customer and a super luxury boat, it still starts with that fishing DNA,” James says. “Then we can take them in any direction the customer wants. So if a customer has no interest in fishing, we swap out the live wells and rocket launchers or fighting chair for a nice sofa and a table in the cockpit instead.”

Some people questioned James’ decision to start a boat company at the onset of what became a bruising financial crisis, but he was confident he could make it work. His professional background is in financial services, primarily working for the business his grandfather founded, investment behemoth Raymond James. Among his accomplishments there was negotiating the naming rights to Raymond James Stadium, home to the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’s served on the boards of many organizations including the one of which he is most proud: Camp Southern Ground
(campsouthernground.org). He earned a bachelor’s degree from Emory University and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

“I started with eyes wide open,” he says. “I’ve been in the financial services business forever, so I kind of knew what the economy was doing anyway, so it didn’t catch me off guard or anything. I wanted a very particular boat that didn’t exist. And so I was like, ‘All right, let me go learn this business so I can make this thing that I want.’”

James puts lots of faith in his gut and his taste to drive the company’s products.

“Usually if I want something, even if other people hadn’t thought of that, once they see it, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I want that too,’” he says. “So that’s exactly how it’s played out with the 52. We’ve had so many people come to us and say, ‘Hey, I never knew what I wanted until I saw that boat.’ That’s it. It’s kind of the hybrid between a sportfish and a center console, and it’s got all the things I want, and I can run it myself if I want to.”

He is banking on that philosophy translating to a bigger package. Gulf Crosser is developing a 70 that embodies the spirit of the 52 along with James’ obsession about high-quality outfitting. Mold construction is expected to happen this year. Recommended power will be five or six Mercury V-12 600s.

The company will also be able to build a version of the boat with twin inboard diesel motors. Top speed is projected to be around 52 knots, and cruising speed about 35 knots. Unlike the 52, the 70 will not have a stepped hull. Setzer is designing the whole package.

“I like fast enough. I don’t care about going 65 miles an hour. I want to go as far as I want at 45 miles an hour,” James says. “I’m looking to maintain a reasonable speed, even when I’m a boat manufacturer that’s not afraid to admit that these are complicated pieces of machinery in salt water, so they break. We design for maintenance, everything, and I want to be able to fix stuff too.”

Fitting-out will include first-class hardware, upholstery and finishes. It will have a lot in common with the 52, just in a much bigger package.

“I’m really not kidding about the dance party and the fishing,” he says. “I want to be able to take a lot of friends, and I want a boat that I can fish on, that I can entertain people. I always say no boat can do everything, and I’ll still admit that it can’t do everything, but this 70 is going to do almost everything.”

James expects the first hull to be in the water within two years. It’ll be his boat. Will he be off to the Bahamas on it?

“Absolutely.” 

For more information: gulfcrosser.com