spk1

Mr. Allen,
I can not thank you enough for becomming involved, and helping to pass on information about these legendary boats, I have a 1983 hawk, and learning about bill farmer, and the excalibur history ie. larger Hawk models, has become a passion of mine. I too am curious about old paperwork, and kevlar.
thanks,
Kevin Gereke

Mr. Excal

Gentleman, I just got off phone with Mr. Excalibur Boat himself Bill Farmer. He has had two strokes so his speech and memory is slightly impaired. But we plan on having several more conversations soon. For now, this is what I have so far. ALL 40' and 42' Hawks, are KEVLAR hulls. Most 31's have Kevlar from the 1978 prodution run on, none of the 24's are Kevlar. Chris Craft paid a Royalty to Excalibur Marine for the two or three years they built there 31', just to use the hull mold. Yes Reggie bought the 31 mold from Bill and re-worked it into the EXECUTIONER. Due to his condition conversation was difficult so we have to take it slow. Tomorrow I will speak to his wife. So bring on the question's and I will do my best to get them answered. Grant Allen.

MILD THUNDER

iTrader: (3)

all the hawks were kevlar? Awesome!

Ask him if he has any paperwork for the boats. Like ordering spec sheets, etc.

Sorry to hear Bill Farmers' not doing so well these days, but tell him I personally say thanks for building such a great boat, and that all the Excalibur owners here wish him well. Maybe we could get an excalibur picture almbum together and send them to Bill, just so he can see that a lot of his boats are still out there crushing waves.

Mr. Excal

Tried Farmer residence today and got machine. I need to talk to Catherine his wife. She can help remember what Bill was having trouble with yesterday. I told him that you all were out there and wondering about the history of his boat company and it gave him a chuckle. His reply was " oh really " with a laugh. Anyway, I like both of the idea's posted about an EXCALIBUR boat owner's site and putting together an album of photo's of our boat's. Bill would appreciate that very much I am sure. I will attempt to post picture's of my 24' when I sit down with my " I.T. Man " in my office on monday. Until then, dont forget to turn the blower on at idle and as they say in the south, DRIVE LIKE YA GOT SUM CENTS! C-Ya.. Grant Allen

Jons

There is a lot of interesting information on the site these days. Here's a little more. The Chris Craft 39 Stingers built in 1982-83-84 used the same hull and deck molds as the 40 Hawk long before Wellcraft bought Excalibur Marine so Chris Crafts deal started with Bill Farmer. The 40 Hawks I'm sure are not all Kevlar. I personally have seen about 9 or 10 Farmer built 40 Hawks and only the Manhattan Express out of New york area with Big Hawk marine Power and Speedmaster # 3 drives I think was a Kevlar Hawk. Steakleys Blue and White 40 out of Texas with Flagship Marine Twin Turbo's and Speedmaster # 3 drives was Kevlar. Also we saw a Yellow and White 40 Hawk at LOTO I think it was Kevlar. There was a White 40 Hawk in Michigan that was Kevlar. Michael Albert from MYCO Trailer had a Farmer built 40 Black & Red but I do not think it was Kelvar. In the Excalibur Marine Retail Price Sheet dated June 15, 1982 Kevlar was listed as a $ 8,280.00 option on the 40 Hawk I/O. I have not heard of any 42 Eagles that were Kevlar. Bill Farmer only built a few Eagles most were built at Wellcraft. Don Able went to Wellcraft Marine when Bill Farmer sold Excalibur Marine and he was still there a few years back. I'm sure Don probably knows as much as anyone about the boats as he was involved in building all the 40 Hawks from Farmer to Wellcraft. I bought a new 40 Hawk just as Farmer was selling the company to Wellcraft and our boat was not Kevlar. I worked with Don Able on the details for that boat. It was started at Farmers shop and finished at Wellcraft. The 40 Hawk was a Trick boat for the day with big wide beam, big cockpit, great cabin area, and large sun pad deck area. The boat took rough water as good as anything out there. Hopefully Bill Farmer will get some enjoyment in knowing his design and boats still bring this much interest 20- 25 years later. Thanks Jon

Mr. Excal

Dear Jon, I am only stating what Bill Farmer told me yesterday from his wheelchair in his home in Florida. I will ask him again in the next few days, but it was alittle overwhelming for him to talk to me after ten years, and me to jump right in and hammer him with questions about 25 year old memories. I asked were all hawk's built with kevlar 49 and his answer was yes. Now he may be refering to only the boats he and Don finished under Excal marines roof. I plan a slower more refined meeting via telephone with him on Monday. He is dealing with multiple medical condition's. When I asked him for his mailing address, he could not remember it. I rest my case. His wife will be of greater assistance. She was out in the yard working and he said he could not get her attention. Bill said Don Able was living in Braidenton (sp). I will try to reach as well. Grant Allen.

DelawareRiverRunner

Patience is a virtue...especially in this case. It will all come out in due time. We would all love to hear from Mr. Farmer himself when he is ready. Best of luck to him in his recovery.

I like the idea of a website for Excalibur fans...with article and brochure scans, photo gallery, various information, classifieds for boats and parts, etc. It would be great to incorporate an owners' registry as well with H.I.N.'s, general info. and owners' locations so we could tie together where all the boats are nowadays. How about "www.excaliburfan.com"??

Jons

For The 40 Hawk fans there are two 40 Hawks on E-bay one 1985 Wellcraft 40 Hawk, project boat at $ 6,701.00 (Sun PM) E-bay # 4586918155 And one Bill Farmer built 1983 40 Hawk restored with trailer # 4587067590

Jons

Here's the back of Excalibur's Retail Price List from June 15, 1982.

Mr. Excal

I found the 1979 article done by Nautical Quarterly on my father and the Excalibur 31'. I am going try to get it put on disc and post it. It states that the total retail selling price with Kevlar 49 in 1979 was $38,000 and change, BRAND NEW with stock 330's. Talk about cutting edge in design and price. It also state that the 31 is a Jean Claude Simon design. I think the 24' was originally a 26' design by Don Arronow. Still checking.