All photos and Company History courtesyof Denise Goodwin

Angler Boat Company

Penn Yan, New York

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The name Penn Yan is well known inboth the antique and contemporary boating communities. However, fewer peopleare acquainted with the Angler Boat Company, which produced thousands of boatsin Penn Yan, NY from the early 1950’s to the early1960’s. Angler was founded by the owner of the Penn YanBoat Company primarily to supply Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, America’stwo largest mail order companies of that era, with outboard motor-poweredboats. Angler operations were housed in the old two-story Penn Yan boat plant on Keuka Street, which CharlesHermann built in 1924 after his Champlin Avenue factory burned to the ground. The nameAngler appeared on only a small portion of the company’s boats. Most of theoutput of this factory carried the names “Elgin”(for Sears) or “Sea King” (for Montgomery Ward). The following history wascompiled by Howard Frum, who served as GeneralManager of Angler during most of its operating life. While documenting theAngler story, Howard contacted several of his former colleagues at Angler andthe Penn Yan Boat Company, including Jim Alexander,Rodney Stone, and Tony Pizzenti, who also contributedsignificantly to this history.

The two-story building at the corner of Libertyand Keuka Streets in Penn Yan,which housed the Angler Boat Company, had a long history before it was razed.The plant was built in 1924 to replace the Penn YanBoat Company’s factory that burned in 1923. During the 1930s, after Penn Yan’s boatbuilding operations were transferred to thelarge, new Waddell Avenueplant, the facility was used by Penn Yan Bus Bodies.During WWII the plant constructed racks, etc. for army trucks. The Penn Yan Boats Co. secured the plant and a franchise to buildSterling Diners. The diner business never materialized and Penn Yan Boats started to build inboard boats in this location.Both the Penn Yan Boats Co. and the Angler Boat Co.were owned by Mr. Cooper Schiefflin of Long Island, New York. Penn Yan Boats was managed by Ralph Brown and Bob Stuart. Mr.Brown designed boats for both Penn Yan Boats andAngler. During 1951-1952 the Angler Boat Company was established at thisfacility to build boats for Sears and Montgomery Ward at this location. TheGeneral Manager of Angler Boats at the time was Joseph Collier. Shortly after startingup the Angler operation, Mr. Collier died. After his death, Howard Frum, a Senior Industrial Engineer from Sylvania ElectricCo., took over as General Manager.

The boats built for Sears were labeled Elgin Boats. Thosefor Montgomery Ward were labeled Sea King. A number of the boats were sold toFirestone and independent marine dealers under the Angler name.

Angler built only two sizes of boats – a 12-foot hull and a14-foot hull. One was a completely open boat with very little hardware. Thesecond design had a forward deck, which would take a steering wheel. The thirddesign, or deluxe model, had a forward and rear deck as well as seat backs andchrome hardward. The only difference between Elginand Sea King boats was the color scheme and in some instances, hardware.

Each year after a prototype design was agreed upon, thebuyers from Sears and Montgomery Ward would give an estimate as to what theyear’s requirements would be. Production would start on these units, most ofwhich would be warehoused. Late in the winter and before boating season began,some of the larger Sears and Ward stores would order a number of boats fordisplay and early promotion sales. These boats were usually delivered to thestores by Angler trailer, which was driven by employee Harry Bell. As springapproached and the orders started to increase, production at the Angler plantwould accelerate greatly. Some of the large Sears distribution centers such as New York City, Philadelphia,and Pittsburgh would place orderslarge enough that the boats would be shipped in railroad freight cars.

The boats built by Angler were ribbed boats with two layersof cedar planking with a sheet of vinyl sandwiched between. The boat forms werecalled male forms and were covered with stainless steel strips, which served as“buck” strips for clinching the brass nails.

The first operation was done by an employee known as the ribber. This person fastened a pre-machined keelson andinside bow stem along with the pre-assembled transom. The oak ribs, which weremachined on four sides, were placed in a steam box where the hot steam softenedthem to the point where they were very pliable. The ribberthen nailed them to the keelson and to the bottom of the form. Each rib waslocated over a stainless steel buck strip.

The next step was the nailing of the cedar planking on theribs. The first layer of cedar was tacked with a galvanized tack, which wasdone only to hold the planking in place. The entire boat was then covered withone piece of vinyl. The second, or outside layer of cedar planking was nailedin place. The employee known as a tack spitter wouldplace a number of brass tacks in his mouth and feed them out one at a time ashe drove them. The tacks were sterilized because of this procedure. The tack spitter used a shoemaker’s type of hammer with a convexhead. This was to sink the nails without breaking the wood fibers.

The outside of the hulls were covered with paste type fillerand sanded when dry. This created a smooth paintablesurface.

At this point an employee called a railertook over and removed the hull from the form. The keel and outside bow stemwere installed and the transom trimmed. The boat was turned right side up andthe railer would then trim the rib tops to the properlength and install the rails along with the transom knees, bow block or deck,seat risers and other items as dictated by the model.

FLBM Collection

The boat was then sent down to the finishing departmentwhere the unit was painted and varnished as needed. Any hardware or finaloperations as needed were handled at this point.

The packing of the units was done by spreading a largesection of burlap on the floor and covered with straw. The burlap and strawwere brought up around the boat and fastened together in an envelope fashion.At this point the unit was ready for storage or shipping.

Molded Mahogany

During the late 1950’s, Sears bought boats from a companycalled Yellow Jacket based in Texas.These boats were made from molded mahogany veneers. Their distribution of thefinished boats from Texas to theNortheast posed quite a problem and Sears asked Angler to assist in theprogram. Yellow Jacket shipped train carloads of molded mahogany “skins” toAngler. These skins had no transoms and were nested like spoons with up to a hundredor more per car. During that period there was a four-story warehouse on thecorner of Liberty and Lake Street, which is the present location of Pudgie’s Pizza. The first and second floors of thiswarehouse were rented by Angler and the mahogany skins were completed intofinished boats. This operation was under the direction of Earl Newcomb,foreman. The parts for these boats were made in the Angler mill. The finishedboats were shipped out to Sears by rail freight and by Angler trailer. Thisproduction was for one year only. During the season that Sears was taking bothAngler cedar boats and the molded mahogany boats it became necessary to put ona second shift. When operating, the second shift was run by Larry Orr.

Fiberglass Boats

The first fiber glass boat built in YatesCounty was built by Angler underthe direction of Rodney Stone. Ralph Brown designed the first fiber glass boatbuilt by Angler. It was a version of the Penn Yancanvas covered dinghy. In making a boat hull in one piece it is necessary tohave all portions flared out to permit it to be released from the form.

Sears ordered fiberglass boats somewhat the same size as thecedar boats. The form for making a fiber glass boat is called a female form. Tofacilitate the removal of the finished hull, the inside of the form was sprayedwith a release agent. The inside of the form was then sprayed with a gel coatwhich gave the outside of the boat a smooth finish in the color desired.

The next operation required the application of thefiberglass. This material came in different forms and was used, as thesituation required. At the time it came in three types. One looked like acoarse open weave, which looked a little like coarse burlap. This was used morein finishing applications. Another form was called fiberglass mat. This was notwoven but in a form of uncombed fibers which were held to a specific thicknessby a form of sizing. This type was used where heavy applications were neededfor strength. The third type looked like unbraided rope and was run through amechanical chopper, which cut it into lengths desired – such as ¼ and ¾ inch.This was mixed in mid air and blown onto the boat interior where needed. Theunit that applied this looked like a 3-headed spray gun. The middle headchopped the fiberglass and blew it out where it mixed with the phenolic resins from the two outside heads. Allapplications of fiberglass required a saturation of resin to make it turn intoa hardened form.

The phenolic resin was asemi-clear liquid in the consistency of heavy syrup. Before application it wasmixed with a monomer catalyst which started the curing process. Because of atime limit on the workability of the mix it was necessary to prepare only whatwas needed at the time.

Materials

The material that was used in Angler boats came from anumber of sources:

1. All oak thatwas used – ribs, keels, rails, knees, etc. was purchased from a sawmill

located at Ingleside, NY, and was owned and operated by FredHoran.

2. The mahoganyused for seats, transoms, etc. was purchased from lumber importers.

3. Wood for planking was replanedred cedar and was purchased in carloadlots from the West Coast.

Montgomery Ward Sea King Trailer

4. Paint and varnishwas purchased from Cloverleaf Paint and Varnish Company.

Montgomery Ward Sea King Boat Serial Numbers

5. Gel Coat forfiberglass boats came from the Ferro Corporation.

6. Phenolic resins for fiberglass boats came fromthe Uniroyle Corporation.

Personnel

The following is a partial list of the people who worked atAngler Boats. The operation was broken down in two floors with the officestaff. Time has dimmed the facts as to those involved, but the followingpartial list has been verified by those still living at this writing.

The office staff was made up of the following:

Howard Frum, General Manager whotook over in 1951 after the death of Mr.

Joseph Collier.

Carrie Kirkpatrick, Office Manager, started with Penn Yan Boats and moved into

Angler when it became a separate operation.

Montgomery Wards Sea King Boat

Edith Snyder joined the office staff in 1954.

The first floor, street level of the Angler operation wasthe area responsible for the construction of the boats. The foreman of thisfloor was Rodney Stone. The following is a partial list of some of the peoplewho worked for Stone and their part in construction.

Morris Peterson - Deck builder

Ernest Tears - Deck builder

Howard Enos - Railer

Larry Orr - Railer

Charles Bodine - Ribber

Montgomery Ward Sea King Aluminum Boat

Ernie Jacobsen - Tack spitter

Web Randall - Tack spitter

Bud Tyler - Tack spitter

Ken Howell - Tack spitter

Sandy Thompson - Tack spitter

Otto Weichenthal - Tack spitter

Ray Brady - Filler

Kurt Weichenthal - Filler

The lower level of the Angler operation was the mill thatproduced all of the parts for the boats, painted them and packed them forshipping. The foreman of this floor was George Tears. The following is a partiallist of the people who worked for Tears, and their jobs:

Lou Matteson - Mill

Charles Warren - Mill

Edward Nesbitt - Mill

William Bordwell - Painter

Ralph Snyder - Painter

Ed Boske - Packer

M. Horne - Yard man

Jim Alexander - Shipping

Harry Bell - Trucking

During the early 1960’s wooden boat production at the Penn Yan Boat Company slackened in response to movement of themarket away from wood to aluminum and fiberglass hull construction. Angleroperations were moved out of the Keuka Street facility and consolidated with those ofPenn Yan’s at Waddell Avenue.Shortly thereafter, Sears and Montgomery Wards stopped placing orders forwooden boats, and Angler ceased production. The old Angler plant site wastraded for land adjacent to the Waddell Avenuefacility to create additional parking space at the Penn YanBoat Co. factory. The Angler building was eventually razed, and today the siteis now a grassy lot along the outlet, marked by a sign proudly proclaiming thatit once was the home of the Angler Boat Company.

Bill Oben