A brief history of Willard Marine Production

The Willard Vega 36 was produced from 1961 to 1970.  39 hulls were built in three versions.  

The Willard Vega 30 was produced from 1972 to 1975.  110 were built in four versions.  

The Willard “8 ton” Cutter was a cutter-rigged sailboat on a modified Vega 30 hull built in 1975 and 1976.  30 were produced. 

The "new" Willard 30, called the Mark IV or 30/4, was produced from 1976 to 2002.  31 were built in three different versions. 

Five Willard Vega 40s were built in 1973 - 1977 (plus one motor sailor) as a larger replacement for the Vega 36 with the addition of a second stateroom and head.  Only 6 were built.  One was a motor sailor.  3 were a sedan style with flybridge and a “widebody” saloon with helm.  2 were built with a raised pilothouse and no flybridge.

The “new” all fiberglass Willard 40 Trawler Yacht was introduced in April 1977..  It was similar to the Vega 40 but the decks and superstructures were cored fiberglass produced from a mold, as was the 30/4.  It was built in two versions, the flybridge sedan and the pilothouse model.  These are what we normally think of as the Willard 40s.

Between 1977 and 2002 14 flybridge sedans and 6 pilothouse models were built.  4 of these were of the “old” pilothouse design, and 2 were of a “new” pilothouse design.  The last one was commissioned in 2002.  So between 1973 and 2003, only 25 of the 40-foot trawlers were built. 

After the mid-1970’s Willard primarily built military and commercial craft, including a 120 foot survey vessel later converted to a yacht.  It also was a custom builder of larger motor yachts.  In 2002, Patrick Gerety described Willard Marine as “one of the most prolific builders in the US,  building more boats for the military than anyone in the U.S.”  He said that during the forty years 1961-2001 Willard had built “several thousand” boats.  Of those, only about 235 were the pleasure craft of primary interest to this List.

Richard Miller, Willard Yahoo List participant since 1999
2000 Willard 40 Flybridge Sedan, Adria
Formerly, 1974 Willard 30 Voyager pilothouse, Seagull
[From Yahoo List, 1-25-19]