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Master metal boat builder Paul Mooney has been constructing
steel and aluminum vessels for 30 years, enhanced with a
lifetime of sailing and offshore experience. He and his handpicked crew
of artisans are dedicated to building superior yachts one at a time.
For Paul boat building has always
been a labor of love, and this is evident in each new vessel he
launches.
Paul's
building career began in 1976. For a while he worked with
the legendary Tom Colvin, and also built boats with Gil Klingle.
Soon he and his brother, Tim, established Mooney Marine and his list of successes
grew - schooners for the American Sail Training Association,
the renowned steel schooner "Memory," a series of
nine steel Departure 35's, and many others.
During the 1990's, Paul took time
away from the yard to hone his already considerable managerial
and engineering skills running his family's industrial distribution business,
which specialized in metals, corrosion resistance and
specialty coatings. Then, setting up his present shop, FairMetal
Boats, in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, Paul focused on surveying for a few years,
including 24 metal boats, while simultaneously completing the
refit of a 43' steel sailboat. At this writing FairMetal Boats has a new 50' steel trawler abuilding, and is
starting on a Strong 44 aluminum cruising sailboat.
To get the pulse
of the latest trade developments and in preparation for
introducing our FairMetal Strong Yachts, Paul sought out and
met with literally dozens of top yacht designers and boat builders
throughout North America, New Zealand, Holland and France. It
was during this research period that he and his shop foreman were trained in
the patented Strongall construction techniques.
They were duly licensed by the Meta boat yard in France, the only American
boat builder ever to earn that distinction.
Recalling
his first boat yard in on the Chesapeake, Paul
says "At Mooney Marine we used to claim and believe that
we were setting the standard for quality metal yachts. We strove to build the
very best, paying special attention to the details and paint work
in order to assure our customers long-term value. I was,
therefore, gratified when I recently saw that after more than
a quarter century the
schooner 'Memory,' which we launched in 1979, is still
perfectly sound, with clean,
rust-free bilges. She continues to hold her value well, and
to ply the world's oceans. FairMetal's new Strong Yachts will do even
better."
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