WILLARD BOATS

Willard Marine was founded in 1957 to build custom fiberglass yachts. Its first trawler yacht, the Willard 36, was launched in 1961--three years before the first Grand Banks, 10 years before the first Marine Trader, and 28 years before the first Nordhavn... The Willard Vega 36 project ended in 1970. In 1972, Willard Marine started building a 30 foot trawler in five different models - Searcher (fish boat style), Nomad (Sedan), Horizon motorsailer), Voyager (pilothouse) and Sailboat (cutter rigged). In 1973, a 40 foot trawler in three different models was started - Nomad (flybridge sedan), Voyager (pilothouse), and Motorsailer. It was convenient to keep the Vega designation for continuity and so the boats became the Willard Vega 30 and the Willard Vega 40. All of these Vega boats had solid fiberglass hulls with fiberglass over plywood topsides.