Remembering Jim Dorris

It has been a few months since our close-knit industry was shaken to its core with the unexpected news of the passing of a true pontoon icon, a legend if you will. Jim Dorris, the founder of PlayCraft Boats, died on December 9, leaving a void in our hearts that can never be filled.

I waited almost a week before going on social media to announce this sad news, partly out of respect for his family, but mostly out of denial. I guess I just wasn’t ready to come to terms that this industry giant that I’ve known for more than 20 years had really been taken from us at the young age of just 78.

Jim first got into the boating industry in 1968 when he started building MonArk boats in Arkansas. In 1972 he relocated to Missouri to work for Appleby Aluminum Boats and two years later he started his own company, Charger Boats. However, it wasn’t until years later that our paths would cross in the pontoon world.

After 20 years of building boats, Jim started thinking of ways to combine the comfort and passenger capacity of a pontoon boat with higher performance. The Hydrotoon design evolved into the PowerToon, one of the first triple-toon designs, and PlayCraft Boats was born.

Among the milestones for the company was that PlayCraft was the first pontoon manufacturer to enter the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout Boat Race in Missouri. The pontoon was powered by a 350-cubic-inch, V8 sterndrive. In addition, the boat’s structure was reinforced, and it had what Jim called Rac-R-Fins. That boat ran 46.8 mph that year, which was the first of many records PlayCraft would set at the annual Shootout.

The PlayCraft brand has been synonymous with performance for decades and the competitive racing started with Jim and his wife Carolyn. The true power couple, along with their children – and eventually their grandchildren – have continued to battle it out on the Lake of the Ozarks each year at the Shootout, while building on the iconic PlayCraft name.

In 2001 at Mercury’s Lake X test facility in Florida, Jim once again made news by reaching 81 miles per hour on his way to establishing a new pontoon speed record. That was followed in 2010 when PlayCraft was considered by most to be the first pontoon boat to top the once-thought-impossible 100 mph mark.

Known for his large personality and huge imagination and as a true innovator, I’ll always think of Jim as a true pontoon performance pioneer who forever changed the way families enjoy their time on the water. With the bright colors and different seating patterns (that at times feel more NASCAR than boating), you can always tell a PlayCraft from across the lake as this brand is unique and truly different compared to other pontoons on the market.

I can’t help but recall the last time I saw Jim in person. I was at the Dorris home that overlooks the Lake of the Ozarks interviewing him and Carolyn for my 2022 feature on their success in the pontoon industry. We of course talked about the rich history of PlayCraft, the head-to-head races with Carolyn at the Shootout and a lot of other fun stories were shared, but the conversation seemed to always circle back to his love of his family. Jim got real quiet when talking about the early deaths of his sons Bo Dorris and Vince DeVos and it was easy to see how much he still missed his boys.

Despite all of his business accomplishments and the countless records that his PlayCraft pontoons have set, Jim will be most remembered for his solid work-ethic, his infectious smile as well as his genuine love and concern for those he came in contact with. He made everyone feel important, but no one was more of a priority to him than his family and that of course included the love of his life and best friend Carolyn.

He leaves behind his dear wife of 45 years of marriage along with countless family members and friends who he loved. As much as it breaks my heart to know he is no longer with us, I’d like to believe the reunion in heaven with his sons was as loud as a Bo Dorris train horn and as powerful as a PlayCraft pontoon screeching across the Lake of the Ozarks. Rest in peace my friend; you will be missed.