So for anyone interested, I spoke to Tom at Jenkins boats today. Brief, but a few snippets. Two other names where mentioned. George and Baxter.
I forget which name did what but here goes.
Malibu, the Tyee builder is not related to Malibu the Wake/Ski boat maker. At one time the Font used in the respective logo's was very similar leading to buyer confusion. According to Tom, both Malibu companies fed on this, possibly because it simply meant Malibu boats was being bandied about in public more.
The Malibu Tyee in it's various forms 176 182 185 were not built from reused Double Eagle moulds. I mentioned this rumor and Tom dismissed it.
George (or Baxter ..?) had all 3 molds and was producing boats from 2010? At some point production ceased and Baxter (or George...?) bought the moulds. Now boat molds tend to be big bulky things and storing them used a lot of storage space in the warehouse they were in Kelowna. Interestingly I think Double Eagles were built in Kelowna (I know Campion was).
Anyhow Jenkins bought or acquired the 176 mould and the others were crushed.
I took this call while at work so it may have become garbled in the intervening 5 hours.
Takeaways: The double eagle angle seems to be a case of imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Which in a way makes sense. Why would a boat company sell its moulds (intellectual property) to a competitor?
The Tyee 18 footers of today are all there ever will be as the moulds are gone. New Tyee's will be the 17'6" only. They are built on the island (Jenkins) and sold thru a boat dealer called 'Monty's'.
If anyone knows more chime in!
Cheers
BW
