|
Hal Paris Letter to Jim
& Susie Roberts
1960's to 1983
 In the beginning there must have been an idea for a very
efficient, very roomy, and practical 40' northwest cruiser. I would guess Ed
Monk Sr. designed this boat for a specific application. Along comes Ed
Blanchard, it is believed by a few that he built the first Roughwater design
hull in Washington State in the early 1960's. Next comes George McQueen (
picture below ) of Vancouver BC. He needed a hull and got together with Ed Monk
and built a few wood hulls of the 40' design. George McQueen went on to larger
boats and then comes Hal Paris, retired Air Force Pilot, who wanted to get into
the boat business. I believe Hal Paris to be stationed in Taiwan during his
service, he must have gotten to know the boatyards and started the project
later known to be Roughwater Boats. With desire and exposure to the boat
builders his dream was on its way.
In 1969 the first Roughwater 35 Roughwater was built out of wood. Harold Paris
set up his Marina Del Rey office in 1970 and began importing Roughwater Boats
from Taiwan. Mr. Paris set up four dealers, one in Seattle, two others in
California, and one in Florida.
First change in management since 1969
On September 30, 1983 Harold Paris sold Roughwater Boats to Marvin Finell a
retired attorney from Beverly Hills and Bob Ajeman. Mr. Ajeman asked to be
bought out by Finell because of differences almost immediately after the
partnership. Finell agreed. One of the early problems was Mr. Finell spent much
of his time in Europe and left the Marina Del Ray office to his nephew. The
nephew apparently had a difficult time because the business was failing. The
name during this time was changed to Roughwater Yachts Inc.
A change back to Harold Paris
In 1986 Harold Paris was awarded all the assets of Roughwater Boats because of
default by the purchaser of 1983. A few months later Mr. Paris made an
agreement with C. C. Chen Boatyard so they could continue building these fine
boats.
Hal Paris Letter to Jim
& Susie Robers
June 30, 1986
On this date Harold Paris formed an agreement with Hsing Hang Marine
Industries and C. C. Chen Boat Yard Ltd. In this agreement Harold Paris gave
the above boat builders exclusive rights to produce and sell Roughwater Boats.
The boats involved were the 37, 41, and the 42. In exchange for this H. Paris
was to be given specific royalties for each boat sold.
C. C. Chen produced and marketed Roughwater Boats and H. Paris stayed involved
with the boat builder until 1990. At this time younger relatives were involved
in management and the royalty money stopped coming. Harold Paris did not pursue
legal action he just stopped all relationships with the building and marketing
of the Roughwater Boats. As most in the Boating community know not many
Roughwater were produced after this date.
|