Re: Tri-Hull Club...Yes? No? Maybe?
I 'll give you a bit of background and then I'll try and answer any specifics you may have.
They started the Co in early 1970. My father and two other fellows. The original idea came from
a man name Wasserman and the 3rd partner was an engineer (can't remember his name). All 3
knew they had a real winner so most of the investment was from them. There was a feature story
on the craft in Business Week I think in 1971. You can check the archives. I believe the title of
the article was "Ship-a-Shore, Where Women Man the Boats". The reason being that a full 80%
of the employees were women, quite progressive for that era.
The Hull and Topper were made from Royalex, a composite material, comprising an outer layer
of Vinyl and hard ABS and an inner layer of ABS foam. A truely revolutionary material that was
highly resistant to UV rays and posessed terrific structural memory. It would have had countless
applications if it wasn't for a problem that I'll go into later. The two sections were fabricated in a
Uniroyal plant in Warsaw, Ind and then shipped separately to the Ship-a-Shore plant in
Mishawauka for assembly. The fabrication of the two component parts entailed a
thermo/vacuum-forming process over a rigid mold.
The plant was set up in a true mass production fashion, Henry Ford would have been proud. Also
Royalex was significantly cheaper than fiberglass or aluminum. This allowed the craft to be sold
at far lower cost than Houseboats of that period (approx $10,500). At peak production they could
put out 3 per week. For a small plant that was extraordinary.
Early on the problems hit. The first one being that they couldn't get the boat to consistently
"plane", a real issue. It was being advertized to be able to pull 2 skiers so they needed to do
something. Some minor modifications in the hull and a beefed up inboard cured the problem.
Then the real issue hit and it's what led to the ultimate demise of the Co....uniformity (or lack
thereof) of standardized parts ie. the Hull and Topper. In the process of vacuum forming those
two components there were inconsistences in the thickness (especially at the bends) of the
finished sections. Not a lot but enough to throw everything else out of whack. When you have to
install Ranges, Refrigerators, Cabinets etc etc. and you even millimeters off it can be a nightmare
and it was. Some of the "shells" came in pretty good many did not and they sent untold numbers
back to Uniroyal for not meeting spec. That didn't help their business relationship either.
They tried everything and then some to cure the problem but could never get it licked. With that
major issue unresolved the entire project was untenable. I believe that somewhat less than 150
were ever produced.
Royalex was a revolutionary material that held so much promise, the talk was that they may even
build cars out of the material. It appears that to this day the molding problem was never solved
as the only thing they use the material for now is canoes.
I'll answer any specific questions you may have if I can.
Regards, Mike.
I'm in love with these things!! Question; is there any hope you might be thinking about reviving the company sometime???
