Behind the Scenes at Harris Boats - Engineering

Our next look behind the scenes at Harris Boats is directly into the engineering department. There are a lot of factors that get considered during the engineering process that determine how all the pieces will come together in the final product. Ease of use is extremely important because we want the owners of our boats to be confident in their knowledge of the boat so that they can spend as much time as possible enjoying their time on the water. Making sure our products are serviceable is a top priority for our engineers. Our dealers are a vital part of business, so we do everything we can to make sure they can service their customers as best as possible on their own.  

We use AutoCAD and Unigraphics to bring the functionality of our designs to life. Unigraphics is used in various industries from locomotives, Lego bricks, and Space stations. Being able to utilize state-of-the-art software allows us to realize our boats while maintaining high quality standards. Because boating is such a family oriented activity, we take extra precaution in exceeding industry safety standards.

When we are introducing new products to our lineup, we send them south to our facility in Florida where they perform a series of endurance tests out on the open salt water and see how our designs react to the elements. Another critical test is the pull testing on the ski tow bars. Watersports is a big reason our pontoons consistently rank among the top in the industry. We’ll take straps and pull on the tow bar until the ski tow bar fails, allowing us to test the integrity of our chassis and make sure that our boats are suitable for watersports.

During testing, we rate all our boats. First, we test the boats up to that rating, and then we go above and beyond that rating so we know we are putting the best product possible on the market. The end customer is always front of mind when bringing a boat together. We strive to put together something that’s unique, comfortable, and innovative. Harris has assembled a team that values input on all levels, so we can continually improve our process from the production floor all the way to the costumer.