Where are all the Marinauts?

The Marinaut is a fine boat. It certainly is in the class of the C-Dory.

That said, it's an illustration of how tough the field is for a boat like a C-Dory. If the Marinaut is still in production it isn't selling a lot of boats. Marinaut started off well and then died and the 25 never materialized. At the same time the people building C-Dory's have a production line that's apparently full (at their pace) and selling the same old models well. This should be an answer to those who say that "if only C-Dory would ....". C-Dory/NMI apparently is doing well even with competition from Ranger, Cutwater and Rosebourgh. The new price has escalated, but so has the competition.

I'd be interested in hearing different opinions. I do hope that NMI doesn't go bankrupt after I wrote this.

Boris
 
Les leaving the country is what put the Marinaut project on hiatus. If he was still building them and writing about them here then I do believe that they would still be being built and sold.
I read everything here about them and really like a good bit of the thinking that went into these boats. But it is very hard to sell an expensive small boat that is almost unknown.
 
Yes the Marinaut is an innovative and well built boat. And Les did leave the country.

That's my point. It was a semi-going operation and no-one was able to take over the Marinaut and make it a success as it deserved. Meanwhile, C-Dory has survived several hiccups and they're on their third or fourth builder. So something is going right for C-Dory in spite of the sales comments they receive. Also, it's a tough market for pocket cruisers like C-Dory, whatever that is.

Boris
 
As owner of the first production hull #1, I would like to chime in on the discussion as to the comparison between the C-Dory and the Marinaut 215. Both boats are well designed, but while C-Dory has been around for decades, the first production Marinaut 215 was built in 2011. Why would I and others spend our hard earned money on a Marinaut when we could have purchased a more well known C-Dory? The answer is that we bought a highly customizable boat suited to our liking for a cost comparable to well know production boats. We preferred our open berth to the CD22's cave-like berth (as we perceived it to be.). We prefered the cabin walls perpendicular to the floor as opposed to being more slanted inwards as in the CD22, which we feel creates an illusion of more space. And the saddle gas tank frees up so much space in the stern; the two steps attached to these saddle tanks makes it very easy to enter and exit the boat. An older person with stiff joints would have a heck of a time on a CD 22 without a ladder. The Marinaut is lighter than a CD 22 with hand laid fiberglass over closed cell foam coring. Even the cabin and roof are cored. My wife and I prefered the Marinaut over the CD 22, and we are so grateful to Dave for his design, and Les for his working with us in customizing our boat according to our preferences and needs.

Frankly, my wife and I are sickened by the prospect that the Marinaut may be discontinued. Future generations may not get the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful boat as we have. More importantly, however, the Marinaut was made mostly by American master craftsman. And this applies to C-Dory's as well. As more boats are produced overseas without the same care and attention to detail, we lose on all fronts. We live in Connecticut, and our state has been going downhill for years. We have lost our skilled labor: machinists, pipe fitters, welders, cabinet makers, and etc., and our economy has suffered for it. We see the same thing happening in Washington. Our buying a Marinaut (or a C-Dory) was our way of supporting American craftsman. It may have been a futile gesture, but at least we know we tried to do our part. And if we had to do it all over again, we would not change anything.

My wife and I always knew that there was a potential for not many Maribauts to be made, but we looked on it as a once in a lifetime opportunity to purchase a custom built boat. This is our seventh season with our Marinaut, and we have no regrets.
 
Hi Rich,
Nice to get your comments.
In keeping with the objective of this thread (finding all the Marinauts out there) do you happen to know the names of the folks who have the boat in Connecticut? Is the boat's name still Irish Queen?
Regards,
Gary
 
Hello Gary,

Yes, the Irish Queen is owned by Steve and Eileen

Rich
 
Hello. I purchased a 2012 Marinaut with a blue hull from Les in 2014. The boat had originally been built for a buyer in Colorado however it was never used there. I had EQ modify the interior to remove the galley and add a fourth seat since we do not use the boat for cruising. We use the boat on Charlotte Harbor in Punta Gorda, FL. The boat's name is Marinaut (making use of the existing decal) since I have the only one in the state.
 
Where are the Marinauts? (Updated to 2018).

Over the past year and a a half we have gleaned a bit more information on where the Marinauts are and who owns them. Here is our update.

1 – “Seeker”; the prototype Marinaut 215; now in Olympia, WA (our boat)

2 – “Betty Anne”; the second one built; in Niantic, CT. Owners Rich and Betty.

3 – “Solis Ortis”; built for Michael Granath in Vancouver, WA; sold in 2017 to “Mike” in Olympia, WA. (see footnote #2 below).

4– Marinaut 215 with square rear window: Name and location unknown.

5– “Irish Queen”; in CT. Owners: Steve and Eileen.

6– "Sapphirina", owned by Dave Mackas and Karen Burns, Victoria, BC. (see footnote #3 below).

7– Marinaut with tan hull; in Toronto?; name, owners unknown.

8 – “Gracey”, Gig Harbor, WA (possibly sold to a person in Alaska last year) (see footnote #1 below).

Footnotes:

1. Last summer we were entering Gig Harbor, WA on "Seeker" and a man on the shore yelled to us something like "Great looking Marinaut! I just sold mine to a guy from Alaska." Could that have been the elusive "Gracey"?

2. Also last summer, we were boating near Olympia and spotted a Marinaut pulled up by the beach at Cooper Point. We pulled up next to it and read the name "Solis Ortis". A very excited young man named Mike paddled out to see us and told us he had admired our boat from afar, which had prompted him to buy Michael Granath's boat. Michael had apparently sold it and purchased a larger boat.

2. Two weeks ago we were at the dock in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. We had gotten our kayak down from the boat and were paddling around the harbor when we saw a Marinaut entering. We followed it up to the US Customs dock and told a lady who was in it that we also had a Marinaut. She was very excited and came over later with her partner, Dave, to see our boat. It turns out that they were Dave Mackas and Karen Burns of Victoria, owners of Sapphirina, the lovely teal blue Marinaut. We had a great visit, exchanged contact information and have kept in touch hoping that they might venture down into the South Sound for a visit later in the summer. What are the odds that we from Olympia and they from Victoria BC would both be in the same place on Puget Sound at exactly the same time?
 
Gary, thanks for the update. I keep searching the horizon for any sign of the one that came to Toronto, but to no avail. If the owner lived in Toronto the boat could be in almost any of the Great Lakes, Georgian Bay, etc. She was a beauty. I was talking to Les when he delivered it and he told me the owner was quit a decent guy(like most Cbrats) and that he could talk to him about giving me a sea trial. Unfortunately I havn't quit got the hang of conning somebody into giving me a boat ride without actually being in the market for a new boat.

Regards,

Rob
 
Hi Rob,
Nice to hear from you. The Toronto boat (with the tan hull) was the last boat they finished before working on ours and we saw her under construction up at EQ Marine on Cornet Bay several times. She was a lovely boat. Les and crew used the same roof top stainless design for our kayak carrier as they did on the canoe rack on the tan boat. It works very well for us. We have a double inflatable (Aquaglide Columbia) kayak that we use to go ashore. We have a stainless davit that makes it easy to get up and down off the boat.

Please let me know if you ever run into the Toronto boat. It may happen - you never know.
Gary
 
Is it fair to say there's only about a dozen Marinaut 215s out there, then?
 
We were at EQ Marine in the fall of 2014 looking for a C-Dory and the Canadian Bound Marinaut was just being rigged with electronics. Les showed us the boat and talked to us about C-Dory's. As I recall this Marinaut was hull number 7. So I think less than 10 boats were built in total.
 
Marinaut 215 "Veloce" in Portsmouth, VA, ("Winters" in Florida between Tarpon Springs and Key West.
 
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