05/20/2026
There’s a unique and admirable amount of craftsmanship in Flippin, Arkansas, for building premium quality fishing boats that now spans nearly 60 years, and Vexus® leader Greg Hopper and his older brother Randy have been at the core of it the entire time.
“I’ve had a spray gun in my hand since age 5. Of course, back then, I was painting everything from trees to tractors,” laughs the younger of the two lifetime boat-building brothers.
About five years later, at only age 10, he and Randy rebuilt a ’37 Ford, and by age 15, Greg was working with Forrest L. Wood doing everything from sweeping floors to cleaning the gel coat booths in a role that would lead to a lifetime career he’s still treasuring 51 years later.
As you might imagine, there’s not much he hasn’t done in a boat factory over five decades – from perfecting fiberglass, to warranty repair, small parts, and production supervisor too – Greg Hopper has had a highly capable hand in it.
To this day, he has a prominent seat at the table once a month as Vexus engineers and designers gather to talk openly and honestly about how to keep innovating and improving.
It’s a soulful commitment to doing things at a superior level, and it’s rooted in his childhood as a boy in Flippin whose home was just a long cast from his early mentor Bill Baladge’s auto shop.
“Bill did it all, from brakes to auto body, but the biggest thing he taught us was that anybody could swap out parts; however, only a truly great mechanic knew how to fix the existing parts,” says Hopper.
“Maybe that’s why today’s Bible verse resonated with me. It’s from Proverbs 13, and it says, ‘Walk with the wise, and you’ll become wise, but a companion of fools suffers evil,’” he reflected.
It’s a philosophy that’s also made Greg Hopper one of the most sought-after engine builders by race car drivers in the region. A job he does nearly every evening inside a shop next to his home, only two miles from the state-of-the-art Vexus factory he helped build.
Small block Chevy engines are his specialty, but at the time of this writing, the shop is home to a Yamaha 250 Enduro motorcycle that needs his expertise, and an outboard engine cowling from a friend’s pontoon awaiting fiberglass repair.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that some of the innovation you see in a Vexus was born out of Randy and me seeing something in the hot rod world, and challenging ourselves to use the same parts or processes to build a better fishing boat,” he explains.
“Forrest always taught us we had to do three things better than anybody else: Build a superior quality boat. Tell people about it. And take care of our customers after we sell them one. I’ve tried my very best to do all those things for 51 years,” he says.
Greg Hopper has succeeded admirably.
He’s walked with the wise since childhood. From Bill Baladge to Forrest Wood and his own brother, Randy. When combined with his own supreme talents, it’s resulted in five decades of building both trophy hot rods and award-winning fishing boats.
