The Clark Boat Company was an American boat builder based in

Kent, Washington Kent is a city in King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue metropolitan area and had a population of 136,588 as of the 2020 Unit ...

. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...

s. The company was founded by Bob Clark in 1960 and continued in business until 1984.

History

The first design produced was the

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, a racing

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

. The company was one of the first to produce this boat design in fiberglass. The company went on to produce the OK,

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and

Thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...

dinghies, as well as the

Star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

keelboat. Star production began with the building of the mold plug by Olympic Star class sailing gold medalist, William Earl Buchan. Later, the molds went sent back to Buchan at the end of production. The company employed many members of Bob Clark's family. Son Dennis started his own sail manufacturing business in 1971, the ''Clark Sails Loft''. Dennis Clark was also a

one design One-design racing is a racing method which may be adopted in sports using complex equipment, whereby all vehicles have identical or very similar designs or models, avoiding the need for a handicap system. Motorsport One-make racing series (also ...

champion in several boat classes. Son Dave Clark became the head of sales and marketing for the company. Son Don Clark earned a degree in

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and completed addition studies in

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and op ...

. He designed the San Juan 21, which was introduced at the 1970 Seattle Boat Show to positive acclaim. This design had a production run of 2600 boats and was the first of the San Juan series of boats, named for the nearby chain of islands. The San Juan boat line was quite commercial successful. With business growing, the company established an east coast plant at

New Bern, North Carolina New Bern, formerly Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 31,291 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Neuse River, Neuse a ...

in 1972. The company hired Bruce Kirby, of

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fame, to design the

San Juan 24 The San Juan 24 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by Bruce Kirby as an International Offshore Rule Quarter Ton class racer.Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 261. International Marine/Mc ...

and it entered production the following year, in 1973, with more than 1,000 examples produced during its production run. Kirby also designed the San Juan 30 for the

International Offshore Rule The International Offshore Rule (IOR) was a measurement rule for racing sailboats. The IOR evolved from the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rule for racer/cruisers and the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) rule. Rule context - past and present rating ...

1/2 Ton Half Ton class was an offshore sailing class of the International Offshore Rule racing the Half Ton Cup between 1967 and 1993. History In order that yachts of different types can race against each other, there are handicap rules which are app ...

class. The 1977 San Juan 26 was a

trailer sailer A trailer sailer is a type of sailboat that has been designed to be easily transported using a boat trailer towed by an automobile. They are generally larger than a sailing dinghy.Royce, Patrick M.: ''Royces Sailing Illustrated'', pages 52-57. De ...

equipped with a

centerboard A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised t ...

, aimed at the same market as the

MacGregor 26 The MacGregor 26 is an American trailerable sailboat, that was designed by Roger MacGregor and first built in 1986, with production ending in 2013. The boat was built by MacGregor Yacht Corporation in the United States. The design was develo ...

, but it did not sell well and was replaced in the product line by the more race-oriented San Juan 7.7 in 1979. The company introduced the San Juan 23 in 1977, with a choice of a fixed or swing keel and two sizes of masts. The same year saw the introduction of the San Juan 28 and the derivative 29, which were among the company's most commercially successful designs. The company was sold to San Juan Manufacturing in 1984 and it soon went bankrupt. The molds were sold off with some designs being bought by

Tanzer Industries Tanzer Industries Limited was a Canadian boat manufacturer based in Dorion, Quebec. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of fibreglass sailboats. History The company was founded by Johann Tanzer in 1966 and went bankrupt in M ...

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, who built some boats from the line, until its bankruptcy in 1986.

Boats

Summary of boats built by Clark: *

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* C-Lark *

Crown 34 The Crown 34 is a Canadian sailboat, that was designed by Hein Driehuyzen and first built in 1975. The Crown 34 design was later developed into the San Juan 34 in 1980. Production The boat was built by Calgan Marine in North Vancouver, BC ...

* Geary 18 *

* OK * San Juan 7.7 * San Juan 21 * San Juan 21-2 * San Juan 23 * San Juan 23-2 *

* San Juan 26 * San Juan 28 * San Juan 29 * San Juan 30 * San Juan 33S * San Juan 34 *

References

External links

{{Clark Boat Company Clark Boat Company

History

Boats

See also

References

External links