| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Boat building |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Founder | John Brooks and Rob Valdes |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Sailboats |
TheEndeavour Yacht Corporation was an Americanboat builder based inLargo, Florida. Founded in 1974 by John Brooks and Rob Valdes, the company specialized in the design and manufacture offiberglasssailboats. The company went out of business in 1986. It was bought by Bob Vincent and built sailing Cats and Power Cats from 36' to 48' until his death in 2019. There are very active owners' groups for the boats.[1][2]
Brooks and Valdes had met while working for Vince Lazzara atGulfstar Yachts. To assist the fledgling company get started in theboat building business, Ted Irwin ofIrwin Yachts gave them the molds for the 1970Irwin 32 in exchange for a small number of shares. The molds were modified by Dennis Robbins, who was responsible for Endeavour's production and design work. The reworked design was called theEndeavour 32 and about 600 examples were produced, starting in 1975, giving the company an early market success.[1][2]
For a second design Brooks and Valdes located an abandoned Ray Creekmore designed 34 ft (10 m) boat on theMiami River. It was also modified by Robbins, by adding 3 ft (0.91 m) to the middle of the boat and it became the basis for the 1977Endeavour 37, which was produced insloop,cutter andyawl configurations. The company sold 476 examples of that design. The largerEndeavour 43 followed in 1979. These three designs were all optimized for sailing in the waters of theFlorida Keys and theBahama Islands and emphasized shoal drafts over good windward performance. Construction was all offiberglass woven roving and multi-directional chopped strand fiber (MCSF), withpolyester resin andplywood for cores. Robbins left the company to work forIrwin Yachts and Bob Johnson became the main designer for the next few years.[1][2]
Starting in 1980 the emphasis shifted to improving sailing performance along with new construction materials and techniques. The 1981Endeavour 40 was designed for the ownercruising market but also with an eye to establishing sales in theyacht charter market. This drove designs that were faster and also more comfortable.[1][2]
America's Cup designerJohan Valentijn designed theEndeavour 38 in 1984 and Bruce Kelly drew theEndeavour 33 and35 designs that same year. Construction moved to Klegecell, a closed-cell type ofpolyvinyl foam core, with multi-axial steel reinforced grids to improve hull stiffness. Valentijn went on to design theEndeavour 42 and51 and by 1985 the company was producing center-cockpit boats for cruising and charter use. Construction was changed using end-grainbalsa wood in the hulls above the waterline areas and plywood for more stressed parts of the boats, withpolyurethane foam and triaxial fiberglass.[1][2]
By 1984 the company had 300 employees and was building 200 boats per year. Due to the effects of theearly 1980s recession Brooks closed the company and it enteredbankruptcy. It was sold to theDenver-basedCoastal Financial Corporation, headed by Troy Rollins. Brooks became the sales manager and Doug Franzese, who had been Production Manager at Gulfstar, became the company General Manager. Coastal Financial reopened production, but by 1988 were operating with only 105 employees and producing 50 boats per year, due to declining sales and competition with the used boat market.[1][2]
The company was again closed in 1988 and sold to aCharleston, South Carolina investment company who re-opened it, but went out of business that same year. The company was sold again by Coastal Financial in 1991. After passing through several owners it became theEndeavour Catamaran Corporation. As of 2020[update], that company producescatamaranmotorboats at a new plant location inClearwater, Florida. At one time they produced sailing catamarans and even produced some of the former Endeavour monohull designs on a custom basis, including theEndeavour 42,Endeavour 45 andEndeavour 52 as late as 1992, but this business seems to have been ended before 2000.[1][2][3][4][5]
Original founder John Brooks was killed at his home inSt Petersburg, Florida on 24 April 1996 in an apparent robbery attempt. He was 61 years old.[2]
Summary of boats built by Endeavour:
Media related toCategory:Endeavour Yacht Corp at Wikimedia Commons