15 responses so far ↓

• 1 robert // Jan 22, 2012 at 9:41 am

  i love my old one 1974-36ft

• 2 Alan Sisisky // Mar 5, 2012 at 11:37 pm

  The company produced so called price boats during the time period
  of 1956 through the late 1970′s.

  The construction was of marine plywood on oak frames. Up to around 1971 the decks and cabin superstructure was of fiberglass covered marine plywood. The later 33 and 36 footers used a molded fiberglass deck and cabin superstructure.

  All in all these boats were lightly built and were built for a price point in the market. As fiberglass manufacturing techniques for larger ( 30 ft & up) improved, the top brands such as Chris Craft, Trojan,etc could produce an all fiberglass boat for not much more then what the Broadwater line was selling for. Broadwater management was reluctant to invest in costly tooling for fiberglass hull molds during the recession wracked and dawning of Arab oil embargos and subesequently, buyers were gravitating away from wood hull boats and the company eventually folded.

  My father operated a marina in Mystic,Ct for many years and he signed up to be a Broadwater dealer around 1970 to replace the Ulrichsen line of sea skiff cabin cruisers that folded in 1969. He never stocked the boats to sell alongside new Pacemakers, choosing to sell the all fiberglass Baha Cruiser line instead.

• 3 Bill Klein // Jul 7, 2012 at 3:14 pm

  I’m sure the above was well-meaning, but I worked at Broadwater from 1968 – 1973, and numerous corrections are needed. For starters, there was’t a stick of white oak in the boats; they were all mahogany framed. Neither the decks nor cockpit sole were never fiberglassed; they were plywood, covered in a heavy gauge marine grade “Nautolex” vinyl which had the look of classic narrow deck boards, white with black seams, a common material in those days.

  The 36 footer was an earlier rather than a later model. The last 36 came down the line prior to my starting there in ’68. Fro that point forward, a 33 footer was the largest of the lineup. They were good solid boats and I’d hardly classify them as “lightly built”.

• 4 AlanSisisky // Jul 14, 2012 at 6:38 pm

  I stand to be corrected Bill, on the type of wood used for framing and the deck covering. In 1970 I was 13 years old and was not aware and possibly confusing the Broadwater brand with
  Revel Craft whch we sold n the early 60′s.

  My father Samuel, decided that the all fiberglass Pacemakers were seling quite well and we did not add a “price” or “value” brand which was the South Hamton Marine Baha 31, all fiberglass construction with a deep v hull designed by Raymond Hunt.

  I beg to differ with you Bill, the Broadwater was a decent boat and in comparison to the wooden Pacemakers,egg Harbors and Chris Craft Constelations, Sea Skiffs and some other brands the Broadwater was not built as well.

• 5 Jerry Branch // Jul 18, 2012 at 9:18 pm

  Bill Klein I would like to make contact with you if I could to find out more about the 1971 33ft Broadwater. I am in need of any photos or info of this boat as I’ve just purchased one for a rebuild. the wood hull is in poor shape my hope is the frame is solid without dry rot. I will know more when I remove the side panels that need replacement. I’ve found no photos of these boats on the internet and am very interested in the design on the side upper panel. I believe it was black vinyl with wooden gold stars? I wish to bring her back to the classy look when she left the factory with mahogany sides and interior. Thanks to anyone that can help with any information. reach me at jerrybranch @ gmail . com (delete spaces)

• 6 Bill Klein // Jul 24, 2012 at 2:27 pm

  Jerry, I’ve sent you an email.

  Alan, our boats were definitely nothing to rival Egg Harbors or Pacemakers or the higher end Chris Craft models, but as plywood boats went, I always felt they held their own with anything out there.

• 7 aaron // Aug 23, 2012 at 2:05 am

  bill klein, i too would enjoy making contact with you as my mom and dad owned a 1969 31′ bay breeze from june 1969 until july of 1972 when we took delivery of our factory fresh trojan f-36 tri cabin. the broadwater was a good boat, and she got us home every time, including after a gale off of thomas point light in july 1969. when we pulled into the braodwater plant later that evening, doug and dave were there to go over the boat w/ dad. not a drop of water in her bilge, and that chrysler 225 kept purring like a kitten.
  my email is: themightyheeb @ gmail. com (don’t forget to delete the spaces.)
  looking forward to meeting you online.
  (p.s. i loved the little mariner too. )

• 8 David // Oct 10, 2012 at 8:22 pm

  My uncle had three Broadwater boats. As I recall, the largest of them was a 36′ model. He docked it at the Capitol Yacht Club across from the Pentagon on the Potomac River and at one time he was the Comodore of the Yacht Club. It had a single 318 Chrysler V-8 engine and my uncle claimed it could pull two water skiers.

• 9 Guy Burton // Nov 30, 2012 at 8:03 pm

  My name is Guy Burton, I started working for Boardwater in 1969. each department had various staff, I worked in the Hull Department, Sob assembley, enginering department also did repairs to boats. The owner was Dave Ritchie. Ritchie Ward was the Plant Manager.

• 10 Rich McGee // Jan 30, 2013 at 12:13 pm

  I too had a 33′ broadwater single screw. I have a couple of pics of it. Would be interested in any other pics of this boat. I havnn’t been able to come across any at all.

• 11 Alan Conant // Feb 14, 2013 at 7:18 pm

  I just bought a 30′ broadwater hardtop that is in need of much work. Any pics or advice I can get is appreciated,as this whole project will be new teritory for me.

• 12 Dave Ridgeway // Feb 21, 2013 at 10:37 pm

  I visited the Broadwater factory in late summer of 1972 or may be 1973 or it could of been 1974 and the factory just received two “2″ white “in color” 18 foot striped fiberglass outboard hulls (with decks joined) from a company in Florida who Broadwater had contracted to build them there first fiberglass line of boats, to be marketed the very next model year. Shortly before this time there was a article in the Annapolis Evening Capital news paper about how several Broadwater plywood cabin cruisers had structural failure while cruising out in the Chesapeake Bay. Most people assumed it was poor construction. This put a severe blow on Broadwater’s sales from then on and I think that is why the company failed. I was later told that the structural failure was actually the plywood separating due to a defective load of plywood that the factory received years before, but there was no way the problem could not be detected in ’til years later. I clearly remember when the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and creeks were full of Broadwater Boats. techforce2000@gmail.com. By the way, Broadwater was not a high end boat, but it was a very good buy for the money…

• 13 Dave Ridgeway // Feb 21, 2013 at 11:55 pm

  One more thing I forgot to mention is that, by the late 1970s Broadwater did offer a line of fiberglass cabin cruisers. Another problem was that Bayliner punched a hole in all moderate priced boats at the time and they still do now. Other entry level competitors such as MFG, Aristo craft and Cruisers Inc failed because of Bayliner. Broadwater also still manufactured straight inboard boats at the time. Even though a straight inboard is less maintenance than a inboard/outboard, a outboard or inboard/outboard boat is cheaper to produce because a outboard or inboard/outboard hull dose not need full length support stringers as a straight inboard hull needs to be much stiffer, but this also cost Broadwater more money. techforce2000@gmail.com. Dave…

• 14 Garland Pollard // Feb 23, 2013 at 1:35 pm

  this is a neat observation….i didnt know all the history about it. Its a shame that the company didnt survive that..

• 15 Margaret oelkrug // Mar 18, 2013 at 12:36 pm

  I brew up on a 30′ broadwater loved my childhood wish they still made them didn’t them build them in mayo maryland

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