Difference between revisions of "Fiberform"

Revision as of 03:26, 9 November 2012

Fiberform Boats

D.K. Barnes, Inc.

Spokane Industrial Park

Spokane, Washington

According to the 1969 trademark registration, the first use of the "Fiberform" name for boats was June 21, 1957. It was used first in commerce about August 1, 1957.

The following history was provided by Tim Stromberger, a former employee.

Tim said:

I have history on Fiberform boats that were made in Spokane, Wa. I worked for Fiberform from 1969 to 1978. The company was started by Don Barnes in the late 50's. He died about 2 years ago. They were built in Spokane, Wa. During the time I was there they also had plants in Edenton, N.C. and Kelona, B.C. Canada. They built boats from 14' to 33'. The Spokane plant was located in Spokane Industrial Park Building 21 and shortly after I left they built a brand new plant a couple of miles away in Spokane Valley.

I started in Jan 1969 and my job was to grind the edges of the decks after they came to our building from the lamination department. This was always the job that the new guy did. Lucky for me they hired another guy two days later so I got out of that crappy job. I drilled holes for all the deck hardware for a few months and then got transferred to the woodshop. That was the best department to work in since you had to be a craftsman to build the interiors in the cabin boats and you didn't work around itchy fiberglass too much. At their peak production they built 24 boats per day and ran 3 shifts. A few years later I got moved to the new Executive Yacht Division where they built the 28, 31 and 33 foot boats. I built the interiors and also installed the water and AC systems. They were built in the Spokane Industrial Park in Building 21. They started building these about 1975 or 1976 and they must have stopped when Bayliner took over. I left in November 1978 right before the gas crunch came and they laid off many of the workers.

Fiberform has been owned by a few different companies. Don Barnes sold out to US Industries in the early 70's and later started Sunrunner Boats. Later it was bought by AMF who also owned Harley Davidson at the time. It ended up being bought again by US Industries who also owned Bayliner. US Industries kept it going under the Fiberform name for a year or so and then phased it out and started building Bayliners in the Spokane plant. By this time the NC and BC plants were long gone. They built Bayliners in Spokane until the 90's and then closed the boat plant. There was a separate building where all the wiring harnesses were built for all the Bayliner plants across the country. It continued building harnesses until about 10 years ago when it was closed. The building is now used as a lumber storage yard.

Fiber-form's Edenton, NC facility was the former Chris Craft plant located on Albemarle Sound. People hired there included Jim Vun Kannon. (Yachting, Vol. 133, 1973).

Model Information

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  1965 to 1966 Fiberform outboard boat models

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  1967 to 1968 Fiberform outboard boat models

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  1969 to 1971 Fiberform outboard boat models

Misc Information

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  Fiberform trademark registration

Fiberform Boats in Use

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