Friday, October 10, 2008

Is Bayliner History?

With all the changes in the boat deal - many of the long time players have fallen by the wayside and some are just holding in there or re-grouping...with all this in mind...I read somewhere that Washington State is (was) the leader in yacht production due to the presence of Bayliner...

The story of Bayliner really began in 1965 when Mr Orin Edson owner of Advanced Outboard Marine (Mr Edson started AOM in 1955 selling marine engines and accessories in the Seattle area) purchased fiberglass hull and deck molds from a small north sound firm called Bayliner (I believe it was originally based in Arlington near the airport at the time or was it Marysville?) to make boats to sell at AOM (supposedly to increase the sales of outboard and marine engines).

About the same time Edson started AOM - Mr Dennis Dean established Olympic Boat Works and in in the late 1970's purchased AOM from Bayliner - and finally in 1985 Brunswick Corp (US Marine) purchased Bayliner Marine from Mr Edson.

Eventually Bayliner Marine became the largest builder of recreational boats in the world expanding model lines (such as Maxum and Meridian) to compete in the up market brands....with plants across the United States...

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