History

People Really Interested Deliver Excellence. Woodard Marine, a family owned and operated business, has been delivering excellence to customers since 1960. In the 1920’s, the original founder of Woodard Marine, Raymond Woodard, began custom building wooden boats at the Woodard/McCrea Boatworks in Hatley, Quebec, Canada. The boats built at the Woodard/McCrea Boatworks included designs by John L. Hacker and many of the winning 151 Class Hydroplanes that dominated the US circuit, including the Hacker Pelican.

During the 30’s and 40’s, Raymond broke off from the family business and started to build boats on his own. After World War II his hobby grew into a full-time boat building operation in Chester, Vermont, founding Woodard Boats.

Woodard boats became known as good riding, well-built quality boats. Woodard Boats were constructed with white oak frames, plywood hulls, and mahogany decks.

During the years of Woodard Boat production (1948-1960), the Woodard family spent most weekends during the summer on one of many lakes near Chester, VT. Bob and Alan Woodard, sons of Raymond and Rowena, grew up around the boating industry. They both worked in the boat shop during their childhood helping Raymond build the Woodard Boats. They occasionally have built wooden boats here at Woodard Marine, including a 26′ Hackercraft replica and a 12′ Penn Yan replica.

As the wave of fiberglass boat construction went into full force, Raymond decided to sell boats rather than construct them. Raymond and his wife Rowena moved Woodard Boats to the Southern tip of Lake Bomoseen, Vermont and founded Woodard Marine in 1960. In the 1980’s Raymond and Rowena retired from Woodard Marine leaving the operation to their son’s Robert and Alan. In 2001, Alan Woodard lost his battle to cancer and joined Raymond and Rowena in “Boating Heaven”.

Woodard Marine still operates from its original location on Lake Bomoseen (with many new improvements). Today when you visit Woodard Marine you will see the business being run by Bob Woodard, his wife Barbara, his daughter Lauren Woodard-Splatt and his son-in-law Eric Splatt. We are very proud of our heritage, experience, family, and team at Woodard Marine.

We define ourselves in one-word PRIDE (People Really Interested Deliver Excellence)!