Courtesy of SailboatData.com
Islander Yachts was an early offshoot of
Columbia Yachts. It began (in the mid 1950's) with boat builder Joseph
McGlasson, who designed, built and successfully marketed a 24 foot wooden
sailboat, the Islander (Catalina Islander??), in Costa Mesa, California.
In
1961, McGlasson approached a company called Glas Laminates with the idea of
building it of fiberglass. Up until this time, Glas Laminates had been a
manufacturer of shower stalls and portable toilets. They had the expertise and
wherewithal to take McGlasson's 24 foot sailboat and create a mold from which
the first fiberglass ISLANDER 24's were built. (It has been said that the mold
carried the seams between the planks on the wooden boat that remained visable on
the fiberglass hull that became a signature feature of the Islanders of this
period.) Almost immediately the boats were selling faster than they could be
made. But at some point the partnership disintegrated, with Glas Laminates
changing its name to Columbia Sailboats and introducing the Sparkman &
Stephens-designed Columbia 29, and the McGlasson Boat Co. adding the McGlasson
designed Islander 32 to it's line. It is thought that some of the earier
Columbias such as the 24, Challenger 24, Contender 24 had origins very close to
McGlassons own Islander 24, and some later models have equally suspicious
similarities. McGlasson claimed that some designs were stolen from him.
By
1963, the McGlasson Boat Co. became part of Wayfarer Yacht Corporation, with
McGlasson still the principal owner and designer.
But in the same year,
Wayfarer went bankrupt and was purchased by Ralph Brown and Ben Kanter.
By
1965 the company started to use the name Islander Yachts, with a new
logo.
Joe McGlasson left the picture and went on to build his own boats
elsewhere.(See designer record for Joseph McGlasson and builder record for Cape
Foulweather Boat Co.)
In 1968 Wayfarer sold Islander Yachts to Cosmodyne
Inc., and Islander Yachts Inc. became a subsidiary. In 1971, Cosmodyne sold
Islander Yachts to yet another conglomerate, Radlon Inc.. A new subsidiary was
created called Yachtcraft which sold kit versions of what were often
discontinued Islander models.
A few years later, Tradewinds Marine, also of
Costa Mesa, bought the molds for the ISLANDER 55 although only a small number
were actually produced. Nordic Yachts and the Mariner Yacht Company are two more
companies that fit into the picture either as producers of Islanders or of boats
using Islander molds. (The ISLANDER 34 molds were used to build the NORDIC 34,
while the ISLANDER 48 became the East Coast-built MARINER 47.)
A company
called Iona bought the molds for the I32 MkII, the I24, and the EXCALIBUR 26.
The result of this shuffleing of assets between companies, there are many
different Islander versions of any particular model that could have come from
any number of listed builders.
In 1984 the production of boats was moved to
Costa Rica, but the company went bankrupt in 1986. During the process of
liquidation, Newport Offshore Yachts bought some of the original molds,
including those for the ISLANDER 36, one of the most popular models. It is said
the the files and drawings went to Fuqua Industries, Inc., which became Actava
Group, Inc., which was merged into Metromedia International Group,
Inc....etc.
Builder ID for Islander Yachts: XLYE or XLY
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