Developed for the manufacture of radar domes during World War II, fibreglass transformed yachting, an exclusive pastime of the rich, into boating, a favoured leisure pursuit of America's growing middle class. Fifty years ago affordable yachting was an oxymoron, and fibreglass boatbuilding was a revolution in the wings. Is was high time someone chronicled the first 50 years of fibreglass boats, and it would be hard to imagine a better qualified writer and boat authority than Dan Spurr to do it. through the eccentric universe ...
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Developed for the manufacture of radar domes during World War II, fibreglass transformed yachting, an exclusive pastime of the rich, into boating, a favoured leisure pursuit of America's growing middle class. Fifty years ago affordable yachting was an oxymoron, and fibreglass boatbuilding was a revolution in the wings. Is was high time someone chronicled the first 50 years of fibreglass boats, and it would be hard to imagine a better qualified writer and boat authority than Dan Spurr to do it. through the eccentric universe of fibreglass boats and design, a world populated by mavericks, visionaries and adventurers. The landmark fibreglass boats of the last half century - all of them still to be seen on the water and in the classified ads today - are revealed in all their enduring, salty appeal. So too are their designers and builders, many of them creative geniuses operating on a shoestring, often from their garages. Only the lucky few avoided bankruptcy court, and even fewer ever found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Charlie Morgan, Everett Pearson, Dick Bertram, Hobie Alter, Rod Johnston, Bob Perry, Bill Lee; the Pearson Triton, the Cal 30, the Tartans, the Hobie Cat, the Morgan Out Island 41, the Bertram 31, the J/24 - master story teller Dan Spurr weaves an epic history from pioneers and landmark designs like these. The Pearson Triton that took the 1951 New York boat show by storm was preceded by several years of failed experiments, and others would follow - boats with Detroit-style tailfins, boats designed to drop from planes, and the few graceful, sturdy beauties that built an
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