"Wright-Built Means Built Right"
Murray Wright, Boat Builder

Murray Wright

What exactly did Murray Wright build? Well, if Murray Wright built it, there was something exact about it, but we can't exactly categorize his boats. An article in the Penn Yan Chronicle Express, March 14, 1940, related that he had more boats of his own design afloat than any other American boat designer…and he was only 32 years old!

Some of his earliest designs date from 1931, when to meet the requirements of a course at the University of Michigan, he drew the plans for a 480-foot steamboat. The plans continued to be used by the faculty as part of the course of study.
After graduation he went with the Federal Ship Building Dry Dock Company, which had just received orders for four new boats from the Grace Lines. In a few months he finished the design for a boat, and the company decided to build all four boats from his design. Having no more use for a naval architect, they let Murray go. The four boats were employed by the Grace Lines for their South American runs.

Early 1932 found young Wright in New York City trying to sell hosiery or automobiles, trying to outlast the Depression and find boat-design work. By summer he came home broke and discouraged. His father persuaded him to build a boat for himself, so he designed and built a 16-foot catboat which he called the Victoria. The workmanship and finish were crude because of his lack of proper tools, but he floated it on Keuka Lake and it immediately won several races. People wanted to buy it. He sold the Victoria and designed an 11 ½ foot catboat, rented a tiny shop and quickly sold eight of these boats.

In 1933 he entered an open competition to design and build a light-weight sailboat for intercollegiate fleet competition in the northeast and Midwest. As the story goes, Wright was so certain that his boat was the best and would beat all other entries, that he declined payment for his prototype if it lost!

Thus the "Princeton Tiger Class" was born, as it won handily over all other boats. His immediate orders required him to hire everyone (as he put it) "who knew which end of the hammer was the handle" and he delivered 13 boats within six weeks.
About two dozen Tiger Cats were sent to fleets at Princeton University, Washington University, and the University of Michigan. Perhaps a total of 30 were built (as near as our research has discovered). Rumor has it that one even ended up in South America, on Lake Titicaca!

After the initial success of his Tiger Cat, and using it as a basic hull design, Wright developed other sizes and configurations to attract and accommodate young camper-sailors, older adults, families, and "single-handed" enthusiasts. Among these new boats were such intriguing class names as Ugly Duckling, Lark Special, K-D Cat, K-Junior (Trailer-Sailor), Rampage, K-Senior, and the Kohinoor (K-Boat).
In the fall of 1937 he designed a small racer he called the D-T Frostbite. One of these boats was sent to Stamford, CT, where its racing record for 23 starts was 16 firsts, six seconds, and one third. It was adopted by the University of Michigan's Sailing Club.

During the winter of 1933-34, Murray designed 3 different 16-foot boats, but was not satisfied until through refinement of all three plans he built a craft he called the Kohinoor, or K-Boat. Between 1935 and 1975, three hundred twenty-three K-Boats were built at the Wright-Built Boat Company in Dundee, NY. They were made of western red cedar for carvel planking with copper nail riveting, sitka spruce for spars, white oak for frames and ribs, and mahogany for center-board trunks, transoms, and rudders.

K-Boat

Wright had a fiberglass version built by East Suburban Plastics in Syracuse, (pictured on the cover), and then the design was sold to Shepard Brothers Sales Company in Canandaigua, NY, where they were built until 1979. The forms were since lost in a fire. Both Camp Cory and Keuka Yacht Club still sail K-Boats every summer on Keuka Lake, as do many individuals.

One of the oddest and perhaps the most difficult jobs Wright undertook was the building of the XZ Boat. This was an 18-foot custom job, deluxe throughout. It was ordered by a man from New York City who wanted an 18-foot boat that would out-sail a 30-foot scow-type craft that carried a 300-fot spread of sail. It was a matter of personal vengeance with the New York man. He offered Murray half his asking price when the boat was delivered, and the other half, if and when it won over the larger boat.

Murray accepted the order and designed the boat, using all his skill to produce speedy lines. Hollow masts to lessen the weight of the boat and the elimination of all details that would obstruct airflow were part of the boat's construction. Finished and equipped with 187 feet of sail, it was tried out on Keuka Lake.

It was so fast that even Murray Wright was surprised. Shipped to NY, it beat the big boat so easily in the first race that the buyer didn't wait for a second trial before sending the rest of the money.

Over the years, Murray Wright also built a variety of rowboats, outboards, inboards, 18- and 20-foot cruisers with cabins, and was licensed to build the Jet 14, the Rhodes Bantam, and the Ben Reno. Many one-of-a-kind orders were filled. Among the odd Wright-Built boats:

-In the late 40's there was a double-ender K, 18 or 19 feet long, called the Squeegee. It had double rudders, a centerboard, and a K sail.

-There was a 19-foot Carvel-planked, round bilged boat with a 45 horse power Kermath engine. It had two sets of controls, to permit remote operation from the transom.

-A doctor in Corfu ordered a 35-fft cabin cruiser for use on Lake Ontario. Built in 1945-46, it had a round bilge and full keel.

-Jim Hawk, of Bath, had Murray build a 20-foot fishing boat about 1939, when, due to the war, mechanical equipment was tough to get. Jim and his buddies (Denny Shepherd, Art Burleson, and George Peck) installed the engine, clutch, and transmission from a Model A Ford. The throttle cable, which ran from the forward deck, was from an aircraft with the twist-lock feature. There was a steering wheel forward, and one on the afterdeck, attached to the rudder post. She was white-cedar planked over canoe-style ribs, about 8 inch spaced, with oak frames about every 3 feet. The fore deck (4 feet) and aft deck (2 feet) were mahogany. The overall shape of the boat was not unlike the K Boat, but beamier.

-In 1955, Curt Wright campaigned a wooded K hull that had been covered with red fiberglass, and won every race.
The Sea-Jet, a prototype trimaran racing sailboat: 20 feet long, 2 ½ foot beam, V-bottom design, with outrigger hulls of 15 feet, 18 inch beam, 225 sq ft of sail (main and jib). At "sea trials", the Sea-Jet tore by the camera at 20 MPH in a moderate breeze. Although a proof copy of an advertising brochure survives, the Sea-Jet never went into production.

Wright described his shop: " the layout is conducive to efficient operation and a minimum of handicap to the builders. The interior is light and airy. All dirt and dust are blown out of the shop through a blower system. Heat is provided which makes the building of boats permissible all winter. All materials are brought in rough and are milled to the sizes wanted. Being located in an area where abundant virgin timber is plentiful, the materials are of the best obtainable. After cutting the woods, the stock is air dried until ready for use."

Wright was a forward thinking employer. The Penn Yan Chronicle Express reported, 3/14/40: "He has worked out a system whereby his men receive equal pay checks 52 weeks in the year, with two-week vacation each year. He finds that the peak in the spring just about balances the slack in the fall and the definite wage is very satisfactory to the men. His yearly output averages 100 boats and he, himself, has designed every boat built in his shop. He admits that it takes about 95 boats to take care of his overhead, but he and his wife and two children live very comfortably indeed off the other five."

Murray Alexander Wright, born February 8, 1908 in Sterling NY to medical doctor Alexander and Jeannette Murray Wright, lived out his life in and around Dundee. He died July 2, 1990, and is buried at Hillside Cemetery. In addition to a legacy of quality boats, Murray and Beatrice Wright leave four children, Curtis, Sharon, Gregor, and Lynette, and 16 grandchildren.
© Finger Lakes Boating Museum 2001