Marshall Duffield is the first to admit that the Mojave Desert is a strange place to build boats.
At a factory near Adelanto, Calif., his Duffy Electric Boat Co. turns out its buoyant products even though the only water for miles around -- the California Aqueduct -- isn't navigable.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, December 08, 2011 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 News Desk 1 inches; 57 words Type of Material: Correction
Duffy boats: In the Dec. 4 Business section, a caption with an article about boat builder Duffy Electric Boat Co. said Marshall Duffield, the company's owner, is 41 years old. As the article stated, he is 59. Also, the article said that production of Cabo Yachts was moved to New Burn, N.C. The city is New Bern.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, December 11, 2011 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 News Desk 1 inches; 58 words Type of Material: Correction
Duffy boats: In the Dec. 4 Business section, a caption with an article about boat builder Duffy Electric Boat Co. said that Marshall Duffield, the company's owner, is 41 years old. As the article stated, he is 59. Also, the article said that production of Cabo Yachts was moved to New Burn, N.C. The city is New Bern.
"If you had said that it would have ever come to this, that I would be building boats in the middle of a desert, I never would have believed it," said Duffield, the affable boat company owner known as Duffy. He moved the factory there in 1998 after swelling production outstripped the space and the air-quality standards at the previous shop in Costa Mesa.
But the consumer pullback during the recession and beyond hit his business so hard that Duffield wasn't sure it would survive. New-boat sales peaked at $15 million annually before the downturn and now are holding at $7 million to $8 million, he said.
"We'll have moments of brilliance," the 59-year-old boat builder said. "We'll have eight or 10 weeks of amazing orders and then it will just stop. It's really nerve-racking. It's just not consistent."
To stay afloat, the company changed course. Duffy trimmed costs; 60 people work at the sprawling factory where 180 once built, repaired and refurbished boats. And the company focused on building up the rental and refurbishing business to make up for falling sales of new boats, Duffield said.
The key, he said, was to save the company without sacrificing quality on the electric party boats that inspire such devotion that owners post snapshots on the company website and vie to concoct the most clever name, including Cutty Spark, Sherlock Ohms and Shock Cousteau. Duffield's own boat is currently out of the water and undergoing repairs. Just for kicks, he asked employees to come up with a name for it. His choice, after receiving 40 ideas: Passing Gas.
In their element, like the placid waterways of Newport Beach or the Ventura keys, Duffy boats have spawned a culture. At Newport Beach, home to about 2,500 Duffys, they are everywhere. The battery-powered vessels cruise at a top speed of 5 knots, about the same pace as a passing Rose Parade float.
On a recent evening, the boats meandered past bars and restaurants, dropping off and picking up passengers. Duffy owners called across the water to one another and waved at passersby.
"My favorite time to go out is at sunset," said Marci Hollander, who has had a Duffy since 1989. The escrow company owner recently bought a new 18-foot, $38,000 Snug Harbor model with two friends. "You put on your favorite music, open a bottle of wine and just relax," Hollander said.
Duffield started his boat-building business at age 19 after a boating mishap. His motorboat ran out of gas, and he rigged up a battery from a golf cart to keep it from happening again.
He called his first models Edisons, after his idol, Thomas Edison. Now, he frequently can be seen in the waters off Newport Beach in his own Duffy boat.
"We do 5 knots better than anyone in the world," Duffield said.
But plotting a course for the 41-year-old manufacturer hasn't always been as relaxing as lounging in one of his vessels. At first, traditional sailboat and powerboat owners were skeptical.
"Before the Prius and before electric vehicles had the appeal they have now, people used to laugh at us," Duffield said.
Later, he faced the problem of finding a better location than his cramped, 12,000-square-foot Costa Mesa factory. It was so small that he had to contract out for about 35% of the work. Even then, he had space to work on only a few boats at a time.
Then he ran aground on the irony of his "totally PC, all-electric" product. During a relatively short phase of the boat manufacturing process, resins molded into hulls and other parts emit gases known as volatile organic compounds. To ramp up production, the company would need to emit more.
That simply wasn't allowed from an air-quality standpoint in many parts of Southern California. Finally, a solution came from an unexpected source.
"My inspiration was Cabo Yachts," Duffield said, referring to the sportfishing vessel manufacturer that was based in Adelanto. (In 2010, Cabo was acquired by Brunswick Corp. and production moved to New Burn, N.C.)
"I would have happily moved my factory to Riverside, somewhere in Anaheim, someplace much closer to my home, but it wasn't possible," Duffield said.
He found himself welcomed at Adelanto City Hall. The mayor even came out to greet him.
"They were petting me when I came in. No one's ever petted me before. It was a whole different atmosphere," Duffield said.
The Mojave Air Quality Management District, eager to bring manufacturing jobs to the area, offered him a permit to make more boats.
"I was shocked, no pun intended," said Duffield, who now has 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space on a 6-acre site.
