Professional BoatBuilder - February-March 2018

18 PROFESSIONAL BOATBUILDER

BUILDER

PROFILE

B

ertram, the brand that no one will

let die, is alive and reconguring

itself in Tampa, Florida, after the

Italian industrial conglomerate Gavio

Group acquired it from Ferretti in

March 2015. e diversied company

has businesses in engineering, con-

struction, shipbuilding, and now

yachts; it purchased Baglietto in 2012

and Cerri Cantieri Navali in 2011.

In its halcyon days—which began in

1961 with yachtsman and yacht broker

Richard Bertram converting to produc-

tion the one-o 31' (9.4m) wooden

Moppie, in which he won the 1960

Miami–Nassau powerboat race—Ber-

tram was a production boatbuilder of

numerous series-built models ranging

from 20' to 70' (6m to 21m). If sportsh-

ing doesn’t dene the purpose of every

model, speed does. As new CEO Peter

Truslow said, “Bertram has always built

hotrods with big engines.” Indeed, in its

early days, Bertram nanced a factory

race team that competed in the world-

wide circuit of oshore powerboat rac-

ing (see “Fast Company,” Professional

BoatBuilder No. 155). One of the early

31 deep-Vs, White Tornado (rumored

to appear in an upcoming movie about

deceased powerboat racer Don Aronow),

which was bought in 1969 by an Italian

who raced it two seasons in Europe, was

meticulously restored and featured in

PBB No. 162 (“Storm Chasers”). Ber-

tram is one of those few boat brands a

collector will spend a million bucks on.

The iconic brand lives to sh another day,

this time on the west coast of Florida.

Text and photographs

by Dan Spurr

(except where noted)

Bertram Is Back

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