Skilled workforce crafts Bertram Yachts for worldwide elite

Some of the highest-quality yachts are made by a workforce in the Bay Area. 

With many big-time yacht companies shifting their production to overseas facilities, Bertram Yachts are proudly made in Tampa Bay.

The company was founded in the early 1960s in Miami, but moved to Tampa, under new ownership in 2016.

Bertram is known for high-performance powerboats and sport fishing boats. Most of their customers are experienced boat owners.

Bertram Yachts CEO Peter Truslow showed FOX 13 News the 35-foot Bertram Flybridge.

"It encompasses the latest technology but also all the styling and heritage that has made Bertram famous for more than 60 years. It's a small boat, but it's built like a yacht," Truslow said.

Truslow said the company chose Tampa for its new location because of the workforce.

"There are many people in this area that have many of the trade skills that are critical to building a really fine motor yacht, in fiber-glassing or carpentry, also in the mechanical area, that would be engines and propulsion systems and all the mechanical parts that go into the boat," he explained. "The other area that requires sophistication and skill is the electricians. These boats are more complex than wiring a house, essentially it's more like wiring an airplane. We have about 90 employees at this time. We build about a boat a month."

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Many Bertram Yachts are semi-custom, but a full customization is also an option. With prices ranging from $800,000 to $4 million, the sky is the limit for someone who wants to ride the waves in style.

"There's no satisfaction better than seeing your boat that you've been working on for a year, sometimes two years, go in the water and perform as well as you've dreamed it," Truslow said.

For more information on Bertram Yachts, visit http://www.bertram.com/.