Overview
A builder/brand, primarily of power boats but, at least, one sailboat (ROUGHWATER 32). The first Roughwaters were wooden powerboats built by Ed Blanchard of Washington State, USA in the early 1960’s. This was followed by a number of wood powerboats designed by Ed Monk, and built by George McQueen of Vancouver BC. Some time later, Hal Paris, a retired Air Force Pilot,decided to go into the boat building business. During his service, Paris had made contact with a number of boat builders in Taiwan. The Roughwater 35, introduced in 1969,was built out of wood. But construction soon changed to FG. Paris established an office at Marina Del Rey, CA, and began importing Roughwater Boats to be sold through a number of dealerships across the US. In the mid 1970’s, a long range cruising sailboat, the ROUGHWATER 33, designed by Thomas Gilmer, was introduced. In 1983, Paris sold Roughwater Boats to Marvin Finell of Beverly Hills, CA, who turned over the running of the business to his nephew. The company soon failed, and was returned to Mr Paris in 1986. A few months later, Paris made an agreement with C. C. Chen Boatyard in order to continue building the entire line which included the 33, 37, 41, and 42. This partnership continued until 1990.
