I pulled this info from http://www.columbia-yachts.com/ When Whittaker Corp sold Columbia to Hughes in '79, Columbia's shining star began to set. Hughes closed the last remaining Columbia plant in Chesapeake, Virginia, and moved operations to Canada. So what happened to the Columbia inventory? It appears to have gone in three directions. They are listed below. In addition to these sources, many Columbia owners have offered to share copies of their boat and motor manuals. They are listed towards the bottom of the page. Andy Whiley, Irvington Marina, Irvington, VA P.O. Box 189 Irvington, VA 22480 (804) 438-5113 Here's what I've heard: On or about the time the Whittaker Co. was closing the Chesapeake plant an enterprising fellow named Andy Whiley knocked on the door and ask if he could buy whatever leavings were left. Well, lo and behold the payroll need to be met and they sold Andy everything that was left, that he wanted. He has/had masts, booms, rigging, KEELS, and last but not least he has port lights, you know the funny looking windows that crack and craze. He has them all, some with the paper still on them, and the price is right. I bought 2 for an old 39 I was helping a friend refurbish and I think we paid all of $25 each. You ask who and where is Andy Whiley? Well he is just up the Rappahanock River, under the bridge and hard to port into Carter's creek just like you were going to The Tides Inn. But stop at Irvington Marina and that is where Andy lives. It's kind of a boaters junk yard but he has a lot. That's in Irvington, VA. I hope I could be of some help. I talked to Andy about a month ago. He is also has an aluminum foundry at the marina. Primary product is hand wheels for big valves. He also casts anything he needs to make mast trucks, boom goosnecks and whatever. Well he called me looking for some help, I work in the foundry supply business here in Baltimore. So the info on the windows is current. It's really neat, you go in to this dirty old foundry into a back room, up a rickety ladder and there on a rack are all these aluminum framed windows, some even still have the paper on them protecting the plastic, and they are just waiting for someone to say, WOW I NEED TWO OF THOSE. Justin Thompson, Marine Info & Design Sept. 14, 1999 Justin recently took possession of John Broughton's collection Columbia factory information. It will take him a little time to get organized and familiar with the depth and breadth of what he has. He has copies of almost all of the manuals (Note: there were no manuals prior to the Bill Tripp designs), original engineering drawings for many of the Columbia models, and other odds and ends of interesting stuff. The manuals are good quality photocopies, but the covers are what were used for the last years at COLUMBIA. In other words, Justin provides essentially "new" manuals. Justin has been posting listings of materials for each model and I'm trying to add a page for each model listing what he has. Here are prices for some of the more popular items: Original Columbia Brochures $10-20 each depending on how big the brochure is, some are just one page others are several. (some boats no extras exist others have plenty. I can make color copy's when the originals run out.) Owner's Manuals - $35.00 (Note that there were no manuals prior to the Bill Tripp designs) Full Size drawings - $10-15.00 a copy depending on the size. Laminating schedule for a specific boat $10.00 Hull shields that bolt to hull $10.00 each. There is also a host of information on that is common to multiple boats such as hatches, rub rails, etc, I'd be happy to research and find any drawings etc. on these, most are 18X24 or 8.x11. The same applies to Coronado stuff as well. Contact Justin for more info. Justin Thompson MarineInfo & Design, Inc. 342 Scenic Drive Highland Village, TX 75077 Email: justin@sailinfo.com John Broughton John Broughton was Warranty Manager for Columbia for quite some time and he salvaged a treasure trove of manuals, drawings, brochures, etc, when Whittaker closed the Columbia plant in VA and sold the company to Hughes. He has since passed this collection on to Justin Thompson (see listing above). What he still retains is his detailed memories of the Columbia models and he is more than willing to answer questions. Just remember, he no longer has the Columbia documents to refer to. Contact John at: JOHN M.BROUGHTON, JR. 5464 DOON STREET VA.BEACH, VA. 23464-7734 Phone: (757) 479-8966 Email: jbbj@ddaccess.com>