18ft Duffy 1983

This 1983 Duffy was custom made for avid New England boaters. In 1983, it was custom outfitted with a BMW marine engine--it had come standard as an electric model. But because the couple owned a coastal home with moorings in their harbor they cant have an electric model. For almost 40 years, the couple enjoys the boat as a harbor cruiser. In 2010 we work closely with couple to refit the boat with new cushions, pillows, a custom life jacket bag. In the Spring of 2022, this couple now in their 80s, made the tough decision to sell the boat and approached us to ask if we were interested in using the boat as a display boat at boat shows and as a launch to use as a workboat to access customers boats in two nearby harbors. By the Fall of 2022 we took ownership and had to tackle some engine work. But we also got excited about the soft goods and started pulling fabrics that coordinated with the gray blue color of the accents in the hull. We found a beautiful durable exterior rated Kravet fabric wave design that pulls in two coordinating blues and some off white and was perfect for cushions. But because the Surrey top had a rips from 12 years of wear and tear, we knew we had to tackle that project first. Especially when we knew we would have signage on the boat that advertise Custom Marine Work. We decided to redesign the side drops using the wave like shape of the cushion fabric selection. We made a pattern of the wave design and cut the drops based off that. We decided to trim the drops with the same color that the piping will be on the cushions. We also carefully thought out the design of affixing it to the frame. Did we want a more modern design with Velcro like the new Duffys on the market? Deciding against that we opted for adding over 300 grommets with a lashing rope system that would better suit the ”vintage” feel of the boat. Then we searched high and low on the market to find tassels that were exterior rated and with no success we found French bouillon fringe that was exterior rated and then hand rolled, glued and tacked each tassel, then sewed each on the wave shape drop. A tedious labor of love process. We also redesigned the two opening points that access both the port and starboard steps when enterning and exiting the boat. We thoughtfully designed these flaps: to be seamless in the aesthetic design from the outside , to help water run off, open stern to bow with a quick flipping out of the way/ clipping system because when you are on the launch you need to be able to open it quickly so we sewed in magnets to grip instead of trying to tie a strap.

After 100 hours of labor on the exterior canvas we installed the new top in June of 2023 the day before the couples joint Celebration of Life. We drove the boat to the service and kept it on the dock at the local yacht club and took the family members around the harbor after the service. We mounted a plaque on the forward bullhead “Owned and Loved by Susie & Ed Morris 1983-2022”.