Snark Sailboats (Meyers Boat Co.)

A very abbreviated history of ‘Snark type’ boats in the US: The first boats of this type seem to have come from Siltronics Corp. which was located in Pennsylvania beginning in the late 1950’s. (Sea Devil/Sea Swinger). The ‘Snark’ name came somewhat later as a product line offered by Kransco Manufacturing, a company located in San Francisco, California (later bought out by Matell Corp?). Another line has been offered by Lockley,(Sea Witch). In the early years these boats were produced in a number of different locations in the eastern US. Companies such as Sears and JC Penney sold Snark sailboats (Super Snark/Mach II) in their catalogs. Snark sailboats were used as promotional tools for many companies with specialized colors and personalized sails (most memorably, Kool Cigarettes). In 1984, Lockley? purchased Snark from Kransco, and the new merged company was subsequently purchased by Entwistle of Hudson, MA. The Snark name continued to be used and production took place in New Castle, PA. The line up became the Super Snark, Sunflower 3.3, Sea Skimmer, Sunchaser I, and Sunchaser II. In 1996, Snark was purchased by Meyers Boat Company and production was relocated to Adrian, MI. (A work in progress. Major update is necessary due to new information. srb 3/2013).