Sabre Craft

Sabre-Craft Boat Company, Inc., was a boat building firm in Niles, Berrien County, Michigan beginning in the winter of 1960-1961. The firm built a new factory at 2126 South 11th Street in Niles. Their main plant was located at Tacoma, Washington, and the Sturgis area was presumably chosen for its access to the Great Lakes regional market. A skeleton crew operated the plant for the first couple of weeks after it opened, but they expected to employ about 75 people when at full production. The company expected to produce about 1,000 boats at the plant in 1961. The company became the Sabre-Craft Boat Division of American Marine Industries by 1963. In 1962, American Marine Industries bought the assets of Bell Boy Boats. In Michigan, the factory was located at 1402 Maple in Niles. The firm employed 20 people in 1965. It apparently went out of business or left Michigan in about 1969.