In researching an article about one of our local boats, I wanted to
put the year that Tollycraft was founded into perspective.

Interesting trivial factoids.

In 1936,

The airship Hindenburg was launched
Rudyard Kipling died
Bruno Richard Hauptman (Lindbergh baby-napper) was executed
Life Magazine published its first issue
Bill Wyman (a Rolling Stone) was born, and so was John McCain.

On Feb 26, 10:19*pm, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:11:45 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould

wrote:
In researching an article about one of our local boats, I wanted to
put the *year that Tollycraft was founded into perspective.

Interesting trivial factoids.

In 1936,

Don't think so.....

*In 1946 he purchased a Central Lumberyard and Millwork plant operating
it until a raging fire destroyed the plant in 1952. That same year he
began Tollycraft Yachts with 8 employees. In the spring of 1959 the
Tollycraft Plant, adjacent to the Kelso, Washington Airport, was built
in just 90 days. History began and throughout 35 years over 6,000
vessels were built.

http://www.tollyclub.com/tollycraftfounder.htm

"Tollycraft was founded in 1936 as a wooden boat builder by Robert
Merland Tollefson (better known as Tolly). In 1962 the company
switched to building their boats from fiberglass. Tollefson sold the
company in 1987, and it was bankrupt by 1993. Although it attempted to
resume operations, the company was dead by 1997.

Tollycraft was known to make high quality boats ideally suited to the
waters of its home in the Pacific Northwest."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tollycraft

On Feb 26, 8:19�pm, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:11:45 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould

wrote:
In researching an article about one of our local boats, I wanted to
put the �year that Tollycraft was founded into perspective.

Interesting trivial factoids.

In 1936,

Don't think so.....

�In 1946 he purchased a Central Lumberyard and Millwork plant operating
it until a raging fire destroyed the plant in 1952. That same year he
began Tollycraft Yachts with 8 employees. In the spring of 1959 the
Tollycraft Plant, adjacent to the Kelso, Washington Airport, was built
in just 90 days. History began and throughout 35 years over 6,000
vessels were built.

http://www.tollyclub.com/tollycraftfounder.htm







From the Powerboat Guide by McKnew and Parker, (Broker's edition).

(This introductory paragraph is always vetted with the manufacturer.
This is from the 1998 edition, but historical facts haven't changed
since then)

Quote:

Founded in 1936 by R.F. Tollefson, Tollycraft began as a small
regional builder of wooden cruisers aimed primarily at the Pacific
Northwest market. The conversion to fiberglass was made in the ealy
1960's, and by 1970 the Tollycraft line had grown to include a series
of sedan and double cabin models from 24 to 40 feet. By then
Tollycraft had become well known in West Coast markets and the company
began a period of prolonged growth. In 1974 the good-selling
Tollycraft 37 Convertible was introduced, and the 1978 the Tollycraft
38 Cockpit MY made its debut- then the company's largest boat. By the
late 1980's Tollycraft was seling its boats nationwide, and the compay
had earned a reputation as a good-quality builder of motoryachts and
sedans. Tollefson retired in 1987, selling the company to a group of
outside investors. With an economic recession on the horizon, the new
owners attempted a huge expansion of both employees and plant
facilities. By 1989 Tolly craft Yachts was in bad financial shape and
a turnaround specialist was brought in to cut costs and stabilize the
company. In 1993, however, Tollycraft was forced to fine bankruptcy
and the company wa shut down.

Last listed office address:

Tollycraft Yachts
2200 Clinton Ave
Kelso, WA 98626
Phone 360-423-51609
Fax 360-423-2607


*******

Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.

On Feb 26, 8:19�pm, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:11:45 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould

wrote:
In researching an article about one of our local boats, I wanted to
put the �year that Tollycraft was founded into perspective.

Interesting trivial factoids.

In 1936,

Don't think so.....

�In 1946 he purchased a Central Lumberyard and Millwork plant operating
it until a raging fire destroyed the plant in 1952. That same year he
began Tollycraft Yachts with 8 employees. In the spring of 1959 the
Tollycraft Plant, adjacent to the Kelso, Washington Airport, was built
in just 90 days. History began and throughout 35 years over 6,000
vessels were built.

http://www.tollyclub.com/tollycraftfounder.htm

Follow the NW Yachting link from Tim's Wikipedia site:

You'll find an interview with Tolly himself, where the interviewer was
able to extract the following details about Tolly's first boat
building ventures:

"In 1929, Tolly enrolled in the architecture program at the University
of Oregon. Shortly afterwards, the stock market crash on "Black
Thursday" precipitated a run on the nation's banks, including his
father's, causing it to close permanently. Family funds and Tolly's
savings ran out and he had to drop out of college after completing
only two years.
Fortunately, Tolly was resilient. In 1933, while visiting
relatives in Kelso, Washington, he saw a real estate office for sale.
With a borrowed $500, he bought it and found himself managing and
selling about 170 properties that had been foreclosed during the harsh
Depression years. Hardworking and honest, he did well enough that,
after ordering the plans from Popular Mechanics, he built the first
boat called "Tolly," a 36-foot, Douglas-fir planked vessel with a
mahogany deckhouse. He continued his real estate business - and built
more boats - until he entered the Coast Guard in 1941"

Based on that, it does look like 1936 is decent claim for the year
that Tollefson first began building boats.

On Feb 26, 10:43*pm, Chuck Gould wrote:


Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


that's what I was thinking. I wasn't wishing to rebuke Wally, but was
wondering if there might have been a Tollycraft "Boats" and also
Tollycraft "Yachts". Same ower, seperate companies? Same company,
different divisions? Pre, and post WW2 registrations,etc....

On Feb 26, 9:18�pm, Tim wrote:
On Feb 26, 10:43�pm, Chuck Gould wrote:



Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

that's what I was thinking. I wasn't wishing to rebuke Wally, but was
wondering if there might have been a Tollycraft "Boats" and also
Tollycraft "Yachts". Same ower, seperate companies? Same company,
different divisions? �Pre, and post WW2 registrations,etc....

It isn't unusual to run into people tracing Chris Craft back to the
1880's; which is possible to do from the perspective that Christopher
Columbus Smith and his brother Hank starting building boats together
prior to 1890. The construction of "Chris Smith Craft" boats (soon
informally refered to as Chris Craft) didn't really begin in earnest
until 1922 when Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company was formed, but even
by 1915 Chris Smith was already advertising his services as a boat
builder in Power Boating Magazine and Smith was building some award
winning racing boats.

Sometimes its hard to put an exact date on when a company is
"founded", and those who start a company often exercise the privilege
of considering the date they first did any sort of business in the
field as the beginning of the company.

On Feb 26, 9:46Â*pm, Chuck Gould wrote:
On Feb 26, 9:18�pm, Tim wrote:





On Feb 26, 10:43�pm, Chuck Gould wrote:

Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

that's what I was thinking. I wasn't wishing to rebuke Wally, but was
wondering if there might have been a Tollycraft "Boats" and also
Tollycraft "Yachts". Same ower, seperate companies? Same company,
different divisions? �Pre, and post WW2 registrations,etc....

It isn't unusual to run into people tracing Chris Craft back to the
1880's; which is possible to do from the perspective that Christopher
Columbus Smith and his brother Hank starting building boats together
prior to 1890. The construction of "Chris Smith Craft" boats (soon
informally refered to as Chris Craft) didn't really begin in earnest
until 1922 when Chris Smith & Sons Boat Company was formed, but even
by 1915 Chris Smith was already advertising his services as a boat
builder in Power Boating Magazine and Smith was building some award
winning racing boats.

Sometimes its hard to put an exact date on when a company is
"founded", and those who start a company often exercise the privilege
of considering the date they first did any sort of business in the
field as the beginning of the company.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Oops. Looks like I was wrong about Chris Craft claiming to have been
founded in the 1880's. According to the Chris Craft web site they were
"Established in 1874"

http://www.chriscraftboats.com/legend.aspx

On Feb 27, 12:53*am, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:18:23 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:





On Feb 26, 10:43*pm, Chuck Gould wrote:

Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

that's what I was thinking. I wasn't wishing to rebuke Wally, but was
wondering if there might have been a Tollycraft "Boats" and also
Tollycraft "Yachts". Same ower, seperate companies? Same company,
different divisions? *Pre, and post WW2 registrations,etc....

I don't mind a rebuke now and then.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

me either, I just try to politely avoid it.

On Feb 26, 10:53 pm, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:43:53 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould





wrote:
On Feb 26, 8:19?pm, WaIIy wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:11:45 -0800 (PST), Chuck Gould

wrote:
In researching an article about one of our local boats, I wanted to
put the ?year that Tollycraft was founded into perspective.

Interesting trivial factoids.

In 1936,

Don't think so.....

?In 1946 he purchased a Central Lumberyard and Millwork plant operating
it until a raging fire destroyed the plant in 1952. That same year he
began Tollycraft Yachts with 8 employees. In the spring of 1959 the
Tollycraft Plant, adjacent to the Kelso, Washington Airport, was built
in just 90 days. History began and throughout 35 years over 6,000
vessels were built.

http://www.tollyclub.com/tollycraftfounder.htm

From the Powerboat Guide by McKnew and Parker, (Broker's edition).

(This introductory paragraph is always vetted with the manufacturer.
This is from the 1998 edition, but historical facts haven't changed
since then)

Quote:

Founded in 1936 by R.F. Tollefson, Tollycraft began as a small
regional builder of wooden cruisers aimed primarily at the Pacific
Northwest market. The conversion to fiberglass was made in the ealy
1960's, and by 1970 the Tollycraft line had grown to include a series
of sedan and double cabin models from 24 to 40 feet. By then
Tollycraft had become well known in West Coast markets and the company
began a period of prolonged growth. In 1974 the good-selling
Tollycraft 37 Convertible was introduced, and the 1978 the Tollycraft
38 Cockpit MY made its debut- then the company's largest boat. By the
late 1980's Tollycraft was seling its boats nationwide, and the compay
had earned a reputation as a good-quality builder of motoryachts and
sedans. Tollefson retired in 1987, selling the company to a group of
outside investors. With an economic recession on the horizon, the new
owners attempted a huge expansion of both employees and plant
facilities. By 1989 Tolly craft Yachts was in bad financial shape and
a turnaround specialist was brought in to cut costs and stabilize the
company. In 1993, however, Tollycraft was forced to fine bankruptcy
and the company wa shut down.

Last listed office address:

Tollycraft Yachts
2200 Clinton Ave
Kelso, WA 98626
Phone 360-423-51609
Fax 360-423-2607

*******

Why the discrepancy?

There's a good chance that Tolly built some boats on a small scale
before he expanded to 8 employees and a factory. Tolly must have been
factually able to say he had been bulding boats since 1936, even if he
didn't begin mass production until years later.

Odd, Since his name is R.M, not R.F.... AFAIK

I really doubt the 1936 date.

Mr. R. M. "Tolly" Tollefson was the founder and builder of Tollycraft
Yachts. He was born in Stites, Idaho on January 24, 1911. His Father,
Theo and Mother Mae Decker raised him on their farm. In 1919, when he
was 8 years old, they moved to Portland, Oregon. Tolly attended the
University of Oregon studying Architecture for two years. In 1933 he
moved to Kelso, Washington were he worked in Real Estate and Insurance.
World War II broke out and he joined the United States Coast Guard in
1941. Serving as a Lieutenant, he had many adventures including a tour
of duty to the South Pacific as Captain of a 150-foot salvage/rescue
tugboat for 18 months.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Did you follow the link to the interview with Tolly?

His personal explanation is that he began building boats on a part-
time basis in the 1930's, while operating a real estate office in
Kelso. The very first boats he built were based on plans he ordered
from Popular Mechanics. The boats that he sold in the 30's carried the
name "Tolly".

His part time boat building venture and real estate career ended in
1941 when he joined the USCG. Following the war, he opened the lumber
yard that your source cited. When the lumber yard burned down, he
decided to go into boat building on a full time basis and established
the factory.

So from different perspectives we're both right. The factory was built
when your source claims it was, but Tollefson built his first boats in
1936.