The Camano Yachts tooling has been sold to a Maryland group and production of the Camano 31 trawler has resumed in the Seattle area, according to one of the new owners of the company, Camano Yachts America.
Paul Burbach of Annapolis, Md., who owns the new company along with First World Yachts Ltd., said production of the Camano 41 will follow.
Camano Yachts America acquired the Camano molds from Bracewell Marine Group, of Richmond, British Columbia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Bracewell, in turn, acquired Camano from Camano Marine of Delta, B.C., in May 2007. Camano Marine had produced 268 Camano 31s and several Camano 41s.
Steve Smith Sr., of First World Yachts, said the new company will follow the same construction methods used in the earlier Camanos and he said the boats’ quality “will be the same or even better.” He noted that Camano boats have an excellent reputation.
Smith said Camano Yachts America eventually plans to build Camanos on the East Coast as well as in the Northwest. He said sites in Maryland and North Carolina are possibilities.
First World Yachts is the builder of Mariner Yachts International.
The company said Camano boats will be marketed through the existing dealer network, except that the Mid-Atlantic area is now being handled by Island Yacht Brokers Inc. of Chester, Md. Annapolis Sailyard was the Camano dealer for the Mid-Atlantic area.
RECORD CROWD ATTENDS 2008 MARYLAND RONDY
A record 49 members representing 21 Camanos and three former owners attended the eighth annual East Coast Camano Owners rendezvous May 27-29, 2008, at the Solomons Yachting Center (SYC) off the Patuxent River in Solomons, Md.
Thirteen Camanos showed up along with the larger boats of two former owners. The others came by car, some from as far away as New England, Florida and Alabama. Five Camanos made the voyage from North Carolina, and one was heading north from the Bahamas.
Many said the event was one of the best yet. It got underway with a pool-side reception Tuesday evening followed by a catered pig roast under a large tent erected at the tip of the peninsula on which SYC is located. The weather cooperated with cool temperatures. The heat wave that baked the East Coast came nine days later.
The next morning, Rendezvous Chairman Mike Nemeth (Areyto) led several teams on a geocaching expedition. (To the uninformed, which included many of us, geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a GPS receiver to hide and seek containers anywhere in the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value.) The groups found three caches in the Solomons Island area.
Jean Thomason (Dovekie) led a lively afternoon discussion on cooking on the Camano. Several ECCO members shared their recipes and tips for preparing meals on board. (The recipes will be published on this site soon.) Cooking was followed by an outdoor presentation and demonstration on inflatables led by Alan Brocious, national sales manager for Zodiac of North America, and Jodi Kutchman of the Annapolis Zodiac dealership.
Ray Smith, aka Fire Dog, represented Camano Yachts America and gave an update on the new Camano operation. He reported that two 31-footers are under construction in Washington state and more are planned. Smith also said the new owners of Camano are considering establishing an East Coast manufacturing operation, possibly in North Carolina, to reduce transportation costs.
Smith, acclaimed for his Camano expertise, also led a discussion on Camano maintenance and trouble shooting. One tip: oil windshield wiper hinges to improve the blades’ contact on windows.
We closed the busy day with another pool-side reception and a fried fish dinner under the tent, again in good weather.
Our annual business merting was held Thursday morning and our current slate of officers was reelected – Al Rossiter Jr., as president; Mike Nemeth was vice president and Lou Black as treasurer.
Black reported that ECCO’s balance forward as of May 15, 2007 was $2,790. Income up to May 27, 2008 totaled $4,843 for a total of $7,633. Expenses – not including 2008 rendezvous costs – totaled $1,028, for a balance of $6,605, before paying rendezvous charges.
Lewis Hunt, who, like Ray Smith, is an honorary member of ECCO, reported on the operation of the password-protected bulletin board. He noted that the board’s archives are loaded with useful information about our Camanos.
There was considerable discussion about the 2009 rendezvous. Those attending agreed we should have one, and there was a consensus that $50 per person could be charged if necessary. (This year’s fee was $40 per person.)Several members volunteered to explore possible sites for the 2009 rendezvous with the goal of establishing a site during the summer of 2008 so reservations and plans could be made early.
Mike and Carmen Nemeth distributed gift bags to all couples attending the rendezvous. These included wooden clocks shaped like a Camano, made by Mike; and special soaps made by Carmen.
The Nemeths were thanked by the group for their hard work in organizing the rendezvous and Camano Yachts America was thanked for its financial support of the gathering.
Many of those attending the rendezvous toured the nearby Calvert Marine Museum Thursday afternoon. The rondy wrapped up with the traditional Camano Crawl, during which members visited each others’ boats to look at the modifications and improvements many made. Some said this was the most valuable part of the rendezvous because it gave them new ideas on how to improve their boats.
Camano 31s attending the rendezvous included Sesame with Allen and Judy Ames of Old Saybrook, CT;Thursday's Child with David and Betsy Beyer of Annapolis, MD; JP-Dad with Loren and Vernice Christian of Annapolis; Osprey, with Casey and Shirley Garns of Virginia Beach; Voyageur with Tom and Brenda Haislet of Washington, NC; An-Jou, with Gene and Mary Ann Irene of Durham, NC; Areyto with Mike and Carmen Nemeth of Chester, MD; Rathmacknee II, with Al and Sylvia Rossiter of Washington, NC; Splash Landing with Eleanor and George Semerjian of Lottsburg, VA; Pau Hana, with Doug and Andrea Smith of Chocowinity, NC; Intrepid with Dick and Janet Steelman of Lottsburg, VA; Hula Girl, wirth Ron and Nancy Sweet of Easton, MD; and Dovekie, with Mel and Jean Thomason of Asheville, NC.
Some of those at the Solomons, Md., rendezvous. Click to enlarge.
