Glass Craft



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Glass Craft Boats, Inc.

Fort Dodge, Iowa

History thanks to Lee Wangstead Glass Craft Boats was begun by Oral and Willard Musick who sold the company in 1957 and went on to found Span America Boats. The boats had been designed by Ray and Arch Sindlinger who went on to form the Ft. Dodge Boat Co., building and selling Cruise-About Boats. Glass Craft later became Glass Marine Industries of Humboldt, Iowa.

N.J. Savaiano, president and treasurer of Glass Marine Industries, Inc. acquired the assets, unfinished stock, and trademark of Glass Craft Boats, Inc. of Humboldt, Iowa, with the deal completed by February 1st, 1960. Officials included R. A. "Rod" Schwahn continuing as general sales manager, Jack Willard as office manager, and Carl Zuspan as superintendent. Plans were made to build a 30,000 sq. ft. factory which would triple production facilities (April 1960 Boat & Motor Dealer).

In 1960, Glass Marine Industries announced a deal with Hanley Hydrojet, Inc. to produce a 18' fiberglass jet boat with the Hydrojet drive (May 1, 1960 St. Petersburg Times). Keenan Hanley, inventor of the Hydrojet, was on the board of directors of Glass Marine. Nicholas Savaiano was president of the corporation. 300,000 shares were sold, yielding $451,000 of which $100,000 was planned for plant construction, $50,000 to build up inventory. Litigation ensued as the company came under investigation for mis-use of the stock sale receipts. Accusations were that the company used the money for financing other ventures besides the boat building and marine unit business (Dec. 19, 1960 Milwaukee Journal).

The June 25, 1964 Chicago Tribune reported the merger of Glass Marine Industries, Inc. with Plastic Engineers & Consultants of Costa Mesa, California. The article described Plastic Engineers as operating as Glass Laminates, a builder of fiberglass sailboats. A Nov. 12, 1964 Los Angeles Times article described Glass Marine Industries of Costa Mesa as introducing a line of Columbia-40 sailing yachts designed by Charles Morgan of Florida. This was organized as the Columbia Yachts Division of Glass Marine Industries. Additional history can be found at the following link: http://www.pocoyacht.com/history_columbia.html

Model Info:

Glass Craft Boats in Use

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