Hello. Thank you for inquiring about the high quality sailboats I build. This is my 23rd year building boats. 11 to 12 years ago, about 1991/92 there was a serious boat recession. This recession was a result (partly) of a Luxury Tax that was imposed on our industry. During these hard times several hundred Marine oriented companies went bankrupt and out of business. According to industry professionals more than 40,000 jobs were lost. My small boat factory, Nor'Sea Marine was also affected. I had been building high quality sailboats, up to that time, for more than 12 years without any major problems.

The only model boat I built during those years was the famous Nor'Sea 27. This boat is a difficult and labor intensive boat to manufacture. When this major boat recession started, Nor'Sea Marine went close to a year without any sales.

When I realized that we were several boats behind, I immediately refinanced my personal home, pulled money from my credit line, credit cards and other loans and using that money (more than $200,000 cash) into the company account. This was sufficient to finish up the vast majority of orders but still left me with a handful of boats that were not completely finished.

Most people in this situation simply declare bankruptcy and walk away. They get to keep their house, their credit cards and after declaring bankruptcy they can open the company doors again the next day. Every lawyer I talked to said to declare bankruptcy and re-open with a clean slate. The only problem is the customers would lose their boats. I decided to stay the course. Move the factory, re-start the boats and while some had to wait longer than planned to get their boat, everyone would eventually get out the door.

I simply could not walk away from this.

Other dynamics come into play when your employees think the ship is sinking. Trusted employees work against the company for their own benefit; parts and equipment get stolen; tools walk off; people get desperate. The entire industry was laying boat workers off. I was determined to get over this hurtle. I made a decision to move the factory and hire a new crew to build boats.

Sometimes people in an effort to harm someone will absolutely destroy innocent people without any regard. This happened after I re-opened the factory after a one month move.(11 years ago) A few, who were full of malice and tunnel vision decided to do everything possible to close our factory; this was of course, after they took delivery of their own boats.

Once their boat was finished they had no regard to the people behind them. These people include Gerald Van Wesep and of course Jim Montgomery. (Tom Gannon of Practical Sailor also did a very poor job. Costing many people money and stress)

Imagine someone demanding you finish their boat the very same day they are trying to close your doors. Chasing business away in an attempt to close you down then complaining loudly that their boat isn't finished on time.

At Jim Montgomery and Gerald Van Wesep's request, Practical Sailor then writes a bogus article that is chock full of lies and this causes problems at the factory. Then Practical Sailor follows up with another inaccurate story about the problems that THEY caused....pretending they were clueless and innocent. (I personally think that PS should pay money to some of these people they harmed)

While I did move the factory (read the complete story on this site) and proceeded to keep the ball rolling, I had a big, big problem with one individual in particular. His name is Jim Montgomery. (no relation to Jerry Montgomery who is the original builder of Montgomery sailboats)

Jim Montgomery has some problems. He decided to not take his boat and instead file a lawsuit against me for fraud. He lost the fraud suit. But while we waited for close to two years for this lawsuit to come to court, Jim Montgomery decided to stop paying his bank loan. The Bank then notified me not to give him the boat. (its called repossession)

Jim Montgomery was then sued by his bank for fraud and this bank did get a money Judgment against Jim Montgomery for about $75,000. (you really have to read the rest of this site for the details)

I couldn't give Jim Montgomery his boat because the bank wanted to repossess it. Jim's bank would not restore his loan (the one he quit making payments on). On the other side of the coin, Jim Montgomery wouldn't take his boat and drop the lawsuit, because if he took his boat, his bank would grab it 5 minutes later. Jim Montgomery made some serious errors in judgment.

Now Jim Montgomery did get a similar judgment against Nor'Sea Marine and myself because he could not/would not take the boat. A judgment was his only option. A judgment that is un-collectable. So a decade has passed and we have Jim Montgomery (who admitted lying to his bank) with this obsessive, exaggerated and outright lying website.

His site if full of various innuendo's that are one sided and outright hoax's.

Just a few examples: (read the rest of this site for more, if your still awake) 

1. Never mentions that HIS boat was finished and ready to pick up.

2. We don't varnish interiors of our Nor'Sea 27 models. We oil the teak only.

3. Never mentions that a certain customer wrote us several bad checks for large amounts. This customer also wrote a bad check to the delivery truck and another bad check to his home port boatyard. (once in a while everyone gets a flaky customer)

4. Never mentions that this customer had some of his rigging ripped off, while his boat sat in a boatyard for almost a year. A year while the customer wrote more bad checks to the boatyard for custom work. Really, this is not our problem. You should hear what the boatyard has to say about these people. (cover your ears)

5. We have never been interviewed, talked to or investigated by any Police Department on the face of this Planet. This doesn't mean that Jim Montgomery and his friends haven't made hoax reports however.

6. Makes a big deal about a man who decided to pick up his boat instead of waiting for a truck going his direction. Doesn't mention that this boat was finished on time.

7. Makes another big deal about a man who, after causing us some trouble in league with Jim Montgomery, decides to ask for a refund instead of picking up his (15 foot) little boat. This is the only refund asked for and agreed to in 23 years.

Jim Montgomery continues to cause problems with owners and buyers of our fine sailboats. Ignore this man. He doesn't care who he hurts while trying to harm us in some way.

People who buy our products realize that we are honest and highly competent builders who continue manufacturing the highest quality sailing and cruising boats in the world.

And we're very busy building boats! Our company is totally debt free and we have wonderful and skilled people working with us. We would be glad to build you a boat!

Thank you