Genmar AS owners...A visit to the factory...

[seabob4]

So I visited with Scott (circlehooked) and his wonderful family this weekend in Sarasota, a wonderful chance to BS with my buddy, visit my old stomping grounds, and do something I've REALLY wanted to do for quite some time...visit the plant where so many thousands of Aquasports (and Wellcrafts) poured out of...especially, since it was shut down probably 4 years ago.

So yesterday morn, hopped in the Maxima and up to Bradenton I went.  Yes, the plant is in Bradenton, not Sarasota, but the Sarasota location adds a little more "pizzaz" to the name.  Get to the corner of Whitfield and Old 301, and there she is...with not a soul around.  Pull in, and park...get out, across from "the White House", our nickname for the grandiose office building Irwin Jacobs built when we were in our heyday.  The place was always perfectly manicured when I worked there, but...



Things change when nobody's home.  So I started walking, and there's the old plant right in front of me...



Yeah we had a big parking lot, as at one time there were close to 1000 people working here.  Walked further, got up to the old guard shack, got a kick out of this one...



If you Have an 225/245/250 Osprey or 215 DC, it's hull went in the door on the left.  A 225/245/250 Explorer, 215 Explorer, 200 Osprey, 205 Osprey, or 170, it went in through the door on the right...



That was "Plant 6".  This is "Plant 3", across the alley from us, this is where all the Scarabs were built.  Used to see some awesome motors outside that building...



When your boat was done, she came out of 1 of the 2 doors you see to the right of the building with the big doors.  The end of the building with the big doors was where the Wellcraft 32 and 36 Martiniques as well as the WC 33 Coastal rolled out...



As you can see, an old 33 Coastal mold sitting right there, been sitting there since the move.  When I went further down Whitfield, there sat a 33 Coastal hull, most likely pulled from that mold, just sitting there...abandoned...


Anybody need a used travel lift!!??

This was the building where we stored all our hoses, portable tanks, and whatever to do block testing on whatever engines.  The pond behind it?  Great fishing in there, even good size bass, although the glow-in-the-dark feature was a little unnerving!





A lot of times after work I would go down to the flats at the end of Whitfield across Tamiami, in 5 minutes you were wading and catching trout, reds, mangos, some snook...



Be honest with ya, never saw anything come out of that drain pipe.  Been there forever and a day...

So Scott, Rick, Bruce, Wes, Bryan, Aaron, just to name a few, anyone who has a Genmar Aqua, well, there's her ancestral birth place.  It was really kind of weird.  I spent about an hour there, just looking around, remembering stuff, even chuckling to myself on occasion.  But at times, really kind of sad.  Thousands of great boats came out of that place, produced by thousands of great (and some not so great!) people over the years.  And now it just sits.  1651 Whitfield Ave....never forget that address...

[Circle Hooked]

Eugine needs to pick up that mold, make a Shipoke Explorer or Osprey  

[seabob4]

Like we we're talking about Scott, the 33 is the size of the old Bertram Moppie.  Now a pair of bracket mounted 350 Yams or Vrods...hmmm, that would work!

Forgot to add, the door on the left in Plant 3, that was sub-assembly.  Everybodies consoles, t-tops and hardtops, all your pre-made battery cables, they came out of that area.

[gran398]

Neat pics Bob, and as you say though, kinda sad.

However...the good news. What you do now is a heckuva lot better, and you get to hang right there....think of the time/fuel savings alone

[Circle Hooked]

. Now a pair of bracket mounted 350 Yams or Vrods...hmmm, that would work!

That's what I'm sayin

[seabob4]

Another pic I forgot to add...



This lone low-boy boat hauler trailer, Michigan plates.  Guess when they got all this chit transferred up to the 4 Winns plant in Cadillac, they didn't need this one...and there it sits...

[Aswaff400]

Eugine needs to pick up that mold, make a Shipoke Explorer or Osprey  

we can sneak over there, and grab it! hell they even left us a trailer to tow it with!  

[seabob4]

Aaron,
In all honesty, I really don't think anyone would mind.  When I turned into the plant, there was a Manatee county sheriff's deputy sitting at the light at Whitfield and Old 301, figured he'd turn in behind me when the light changed.  I mean, chit, the whole damn place is empty, no one goes in there anymore...

Nope, he cruised right on down Whitfield, like he could care less...

[wingtime]

Wow cool  pics Bob thanks for sharing.  I hate to see abandoned American industry like that.  Major bummer.  That is crazy they just left the low boy trailer sitting there like that.

[seabob4]

Bruce,
You could go get that damn thing right now.  The property still has the original fencing just around the plant.  The parking lot where the trailer is?  Just like it was 12 years ago...

[wingtime]

I know a couple of guys with a tractor to pull it.

[seabob4]

In all seriousness Bruce, like I said to Aaron, I really don't think anyone would give a chit if it was gone!  I know the cop saw me turn in and park, I didn't try to hide...and he just kept on cruisin'...

But I really enjoyed it.  I had so much anticipation when I was was driving towards the plant.  And when I got there, and to just be able to walk around...and look...and think about the people, old friends who I haven't seen in years, the boats we put out, the goofy chit, the day I left...

Just glad I was alone...on a beautiful day...

[Aswaff400]

I know a couple of guys with a tractor to pull it.

and i know a guy who can operate a lift    

all we gotta do is roll up in there wearing some genmar/welcraft chit and business as usual

[Circle Hooked]

Listed owner of the property

   SARASOTA REAL PROPERTY LLC
Owner Type   
Address   7831 GLENROY RD STE 450
    
    
City   MINNEAPOLIS
State   MN
Zip Code   55439

[seabob4]

Listed owner of the property

   SARASOTA REAL PROPERTY LLC
Owner Type   
Address   7831 GLENROY RD STE 450
    
    
City   MINNEAPOLIS
State   MN
Zip Code   55439

And that would be Irwin Jacobs...