![]() ![]() There was a two-year contract and the boats were named Bayliner and Orin owned the name. My brother said that he did not just take a mold off of another boat he had already made. Dad had to design and make all new molds. Orin Edson was with or owned-I don't know which-Advanced Outboard Marine and contracted with Dad to make boats for him. After Pacific Mariner sold to Reinell, Dad was not pleased with the owner for some reason. ![]() My brother Steve Smith was by today and corrected me on the Orin Edson connection which I would like you to share with the group. If this doesn't open, please let me know. As you can see there were three sizes of Car Top Boats available. My dad, Ken Smith is facing out and the fellow at the tiller is an employee, Bill Mathiason. Once I figure out how to display it on the forum I'll post it.Īttached is the only flyer that I can find from the early days, circa late 50's. This is from an email I received from Katherine Smith Alderman and the attachment was a pdf that showed a handout for Glasply car top boats and from the Mercury outboard used it appears to be late 50's as she states. On January 28, 2013, Bill V posted another e-mail from Mrs. If you need any more verification, I still can find a few employees that worked for my dad plus some pictures of the early days. I look forward to going through the website and hope that this information is helpful to those who need the background on the company. Unfortunately, our family never did own one! But we did have the use of a couple during some memorable family times. Dad built some beautiful boats and it is wonderful that they are still appreciated by their owners. I am only writing all this to set the record straight and not from anything vindictive. There is no doubt about that but he did not "found" the Glas-Ply company. Hopen was a great salesman and helped to grow the business. I just saw the write up in the Everett Herald newspaper about Ken Hopen and it is full of inaccuracies. I thought about announcing it in the paper but procrastinated-I wish I had not. Ken Smith died on May 30, 2010, in Vernal, Utah. I don't know if they are still making boats and I have not yet had a chance to go through the website. I heard that the business was moved to LaConnor,WA, later. We made a visit to the company and spoke with the then owner and I am sorry I don't remember his name. Enter, Ken Hopen a couple of years later.Ī few years ago, my dad came out to Marysville, WA for a visit and I had noticed that Glas-Ply was in existence in a building in the Arlington Airport area. The Glas-Ply name and the laundry tray business had been purchased by someone in Granite Falls area and my dad went back to the defunct business and purchased back the name and the boat plant was opened. But two A-type personalities did not mix well and Orin bought out Dad. ![]() Dad stayed until the plant was closed.Īfter that, Dad and Orin Edson started Bayliner. Schwabacher Hardware eventually bought out Pacifice Marine. ![]() One of the models was used in the water ski show for the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, which was held in a giant moat at the Stadium. Needing more capital, Dad sold to Pacific Marine Supply and designed and managed the Pacific Mariner boat line. Dad made laundry trays, chairs, and small dinghys, then progressed to larger boats. Glas-Ply started out in the 1950's as a pioneer in plastics in the northwest. (He started up another boat plant in Hawaii in the 1970's but that is another story.) My dad sold his half of the business to Ken Hopen when my parents divorced in 1970-71. Hopen was not involved in that process, unless it was to give an opinion. My dad designed all the boats and made the molds that are still in use, today. Hopen was taken in as a partner around 1968 and was in charge of the office and sales. I am the daughter of Glas-Ply's founder, Ken Smith, and have some information on the company that would be helpful and more accurate than what I have seen since the passing of Ken Hopen. In case we are unable to get the backup files, I'm trying to salvage some history from Google's cache files of the old site.īack on January 23, 2013, Bill V had received an email from the daughter of Ken Smith, the original founder of the company that would later on start building Glasply boats. ![]()
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