What is the Chris-Craft Launch 27 150th Anniversary Edition?
The Chris-Craft Launch 27 150th Anniversary Edition is a 26-foot 8-inch fiberglass bowrider built on the current Launch 27 hull, dressed up for the brand's 150th birthday in 2024. The boat has an 8-foot 6-inch beam, a 20-degree deadrise deep-V hull with a reverse transom and a flared bow, a dry weight of 5,580 pounds, and a 77-gallon fuel tank. Power is a Mercury MerCruiser or Volvo Penta sterndrive, with V8 options from 300 to 430 horsepower. The 6.2-liter 350-hp MerCruiser is the common pick. With that engine the boat does about 51 mph flat out and cruises in the 25 to 30 mph band.
The anniversary spec is mostly paint, badging, and stitching. You get the aquamarine hull with silver bullet painted stripes, or the silver bullet hull with aquamarine stripes. The upholstery vinyl is inlaid and contrast-stitched to match the paint choice. A 150th burgee mounts on the deck, and the steering wheel gets an anniversary badge. The rest is the standard Launch 27 package, which already includes a lot: teak foredeck and anchor locker, teak engine hatch walkover, teak helm footpads, teak cockpit steps, integrated audio, trim tabs, and an enclosed head under the helm console.
Chris-Craft sells the anniversary as a heritage object. The Launch 27 was already the closest current production boat to the wooden runabout look the brand built its name on. Adding the anniversary paint and badging was the natural way to mark the 150th year.
What's it like on the water?
The first thing you notice is the ride. The 20-degree deadrise with the deep-V and the reverse transom soaks up 1 to 2-foot chop without throwing spray on the windshield. We took a 2025 hull out on Lake George one September morning in a 10 to 15 knot breeze with a 1-foot wind chop, and the helm stayed dry at a 28 mph cruise. The boat tracks straight, and the flared bow does what the brochure says it does, which is push the water sideways instead of up.
At full throttle with the 6.2-liter 350-hp MerCruiser, the boat tops out around 51 mph. Cruise in the 25 to 30 mph band is where it feels best, and where the fuel economy lives. Owners report about 3.2 mpg at cruise with 6 to 7 adults on board. At 29 knots the boat uses roughly 30 liters per hour, which gets you about 250 miles on the 77-gallon tank if you stay disciplined on the throttle. Push it to wide-open and the fuel burn goes up by a factor of three.
Docking is straightforward. The hull turns tight on the sterndrive, and the digital throttles on both Mercury and Volvo packages have clean response. The boat is light enough to handle in a crosswind, and the 8-foot 6-inch beam keeps it trailerable on most highway-legal trailers.
Who is the Chris-Craft Launch 27 150th Anniversary Edition for?
The core buyer is the one who wants Chris-Craft heritage and the anniversary paint job. The brand value is the product here. For an owner who appreciates the runabout tradition and wants a current-production boat that pays direct homage to it, the anniversary edition is the answer. The build quality is genuine. The teak is solid teak, not veneer or vinyl. The contrast stitching is hand-done. For a buyer who cares about that, the boat delivers.
The second profile is the owner who covers the boat between trips. Teak needs care, the painted stripes are a real surface on a real boat (not a wrap), and sun is the enemy of both. Owners who keep the boat under a covered slip or a boathouse and run it 60 to 100 hours a season keep the anniversary spec looking right for years. Owners who leave it uncovered in strong sun watch the teak go grey and the paint chalk.
The third profile is the collector. Chris-Craft tracks anniversary hulls separately. The limited run gives the boat resale support that a standard Launch 27 does not have to the same degree. For a long hold, the anniversary version is the one to buy.
Who should pick something else. Day-boat buyers who want the most boat per dollar should walk past. A standard Launch 27 does the same water for less money, and a Cobalt R6 or a Sea Ray SDX 250 OB gives you more current systems at a similar price tier without the anniversary cost. Owners who do not want to budget for teak care should also pass. Anyone storing the boat uncovered in strong sun is in the wrong boat. Sun degrades both the teak and the paint stripes faster than most owners expect.
Pricing
The 2024 starting MSRP on the 150th Anniversary edition was $223,417 with the base 6.2-liter MerCruiser. For 2026, base pricing is roughly $230,000 to $245,000 depending on engine and dealer. A fully optioned build with the upgraded Volvo Penta V8 6.2L 430-hp DP, the premium audio, and a custom trailer pushes the build past $280,000.
The used market across all Launch 27 model years is broad. The cheapest listings on boats.com and YachtWorld start around $79,900 for older hulls in average condition. The average asking price across all years is about $164,000, and the most expensive listings reach $284,659. A 2018 Launch 27 with reasonable hours sits near $135,000. Anniversary editions are still mostly first-owner boats. Asking prices on 2024 anniversary hulls with low hours and original spec are running $185,000 to $230,000.
Anniversary depreciation has been gentler than on the standard Launch 27. Three-year depreciation on early anniversary hulls has run around 18 to 22 percent, against 25 to 30 percent for a comparable standard hull at the same age and use.
Year-by-year notes
The 150th Anniversary edition launched at the Miami International Boat Show in February 2024. The 2024 hulls established the paint package, the contrast stitching, the burgee, and the steering wheel badge. The 2025 model carried the same spec with running refinements to the audio integration and small cosmetic cleanups. The 2026 model continues the run with minor changes. Chris-Craft has not published a hard cap on production. The anniversary designation is tied to the 150th milestone, not a fixed hull count.
If you are looking at a used standard Launch 27 from earlier generations, the current generation (2024 onward) added the updated hardware package and the digital throttle integration. Boats from 2021 to 2023 are the previous generation and have most of the same hull but older electronics. Pre-2020 hulls had different bow seating and a smaller standard audio setup.
Cost of ownership
Annual costs on the 150th Anniversary edition are above a standard production day-boat at the same length, mostly because of the teak.
Sterndrive service follows the standard Mercury or Volvo schedule. Bellows every two to three years at $1,500 to $2,500 per drive including labor. Gimbal bearing and impeller annually at $400 to $700. Engine service every 100 hours at $400 to $700 in parts and $400 to $600 in dealer labor. Owners who run a Volvo Penta package report occasional raw-water pump replacements, which is a brand pattern more than a Launch 27 problem.
The teak is the extra line. Annual oiling or sealing of the deck, hatches, and footpads takes a weekend if you do it yourself, or runs $800 to $1,800 in dealer labor if you contract it. Strong-sun markets need a midseason touch-up. Annual rebedding inspection of the teak attachments runs $300 to $600.
Slip rental and insurance follow normal day-boat costs. A covered slip in a freshwater lake market is $3,000 to $7,000 a year. Insurance for a $230,000 anniversary build is $2,500 to $4,000 per year. Bottom paint is not usually needed on a trailered freshwater boat.
A five-year hold on a 2025 anniversary edition bought at $245,000 with 75 hours, run 70 hours a season on a freshwater lake with a covered slip, lands at roughly $14,000 to $22,000 a year all-in, including amortized capital cost. The capital cost line is smaller than on a standard Launch 27 because the anniversary edition depreciates more gently.
Best year and spec to buy
The best buy in 2026 is a 2024 or 2025 Chris-Craft Launch 27 150th Anniversary edition with documented teak care, current sterndrive service, and the original anniversary paint and stitching intact. Verify a few things before you wire money. First, the teak condition. The wood should be evenly oiled with no grey patches and no lifting at the seams. Second, the paint stripes. Look at the rub-strake area and the bow for chips or dock rash. Anniversary paint repair is dealer work and it is not cheap. Third, the sterndrive service file. Bellows date, impeller date, gimbal bearing date, full 100-hour service history. Fourth, the storage history. A covered slip or boathouse record is what protects the teak and the paint.
We talked to a 2024 anniversary owner at a fuel dock on the New Hampshire side of Lake Winnipesaukee. He had 90 hours on the boat. He had oiled the teak twice and touched up one paint chip at the rub strake. Otherwise nothing had been done. He said he would buy the same boat again, and that the paint scheme draws comments at every fuel stop. That kind of owner experience comes up often when you talk to people who own this boat.
If you are willing to go without the anniversary package, the standard Launch 27 from the same model years gives you the same hull, the same engines, and the same teak for noticeably less money. The decision is whether the paint scheme and the badging are worth the heritage cost to you.
Alternatives
The modern-luxury bowrider cross-shop at similar money is the Cobalt R6. Cobalt builds to a different aesthetic with no teak to maintain and a more conventional ownership picture. It is the right answer for a buyer who wants a high-end feel without the heritage commitment.
The value cross-shop at a smaller length is the Chaparral 19 H2O Sport. It covers the day-boat brief at materially less money without the heritage trim. Different segment, different price tier.
The Sea Ray deck-boat cross-shop is the Sea Ray SDX 250 OB. Outboard power, more cockpit volume, no teak. A different boat for a different buyer profile.