J/Boats

J/Boats is an American boat builder based in Newport, Rhode Island and founded by Rod Johnstone in 1977. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats.[1][2][3]

J/Boats
Privately held company
IndustryBoat building
Founded1977
FoundersRod & Bob Johnstone
Headquarters
Newport, Rhode Island
,
United States
Key people
Jeff Johnstone (president)
ProductsSailboats
Websitewww.jboats.com

The company's boat model designations all start with "J/" and then the design's length overall, usually in feet or, more recently, in decimeters. All J/Boat designs are monohull, sloop-rigged keelboats constructed of fiberglass.[3] The current company product line consists of ten models ranging in length from 22.75 to 40 ft (6.9 to 12.2 m).[4] Past models have ranged from 22.5 to 64.5 ft (6.9 to 19.7 m), from the J/22 to the J/65.[1]

Sailboatdata describes the company, "the J/Boats company, a family affair started with brother Bob Johnstone is arguably the most successful producer of performance-oriented boats in the world with nearly 10,000 boats built to Johnstone designs."[2]

History
J/24
J/22
J/35

Rod Johnstone had completed a correspondence course at the Westlawn School of Yacht Design in the 1960s and in 1975 was working selling advertising for Soundings, a sailing trade magazine, when he started a homebuilt boat project. His first boat design, named Ragtime, was built on weekends, in his garage in Stonington, Connecticut. He raced the boat in the summer of 1976, with a crew made up of family members and amassed a very successful racing record. The co-founder of Pearson Yachts and owner of TPI Composites, Inc, Everett Pearson, made an agreement with Johnstone to produce the design in a new factory, in return for the exclusive United States building rights. The factory was established in an old textile mill in Fall River, Massachusetts. The design was designated as the J/24 and Johnstone arranged display advertising for the new boat in Soundings.[1][5]

Rod Johnstone's brother, Bob Johnstone joined the new company to handle marketing and also invested $20,000 in start-up costs. He had been working as vice president of marketing for AMF/Alcort, the builders of the Sunfish sailboat at that time, but was unable to interest them in the J/24 design. The two Johnstone brothers became business partners in J/Boats.[1]

The company intentionally avoided the production aspect of the business, leaving that to Pearson Yachts and instead concentrating on design and marketing.[5]

Production of the J/24 started in 1977 and the new partners expected to sell 250 boats that first year, and actually sold 750.[1] By early 1978 the class was popular enough to hold a one-design regatta in Key West with twenty boats competing and by that summer sixty-eight competed in Newport, Rhode Island.[3]

Early successful designs included the 1983 J/22, as well as the 1983 J/35, with 330 produced. The company classifies its designs into one design, offshore cruisers, offshore cruiser-racers, day sailers and weekend cruisers and pure racing designs[1][6][7][8][9]

By 1992 a new generation of the Johnstone family was running the company, while the elder Johnstones remained involved. Rod Johnstone's son Jeff Johnstone became president, while his son Alan Johnstone was named vice-president, while Phil Johnstone is legal counsel. Rod Johnstone's nephew, Jim Johnstone, became sales director. Five of Jim and Bob Johnstone's sons serve as members of the board of directors: Jeff, Alan, Stuart, Drake and Phil Johnstone. All the family members involved in the company are serious sailors.[1][5]

By 2020 the company had built more than 9,000 boats and had ten designs in production: the J/70, J/80, J/88, J/96, J/99, J/111, J/121, J/97E, J/112E and the 122E.[1][4]

Boats
J/28
J/32
J/70
J/80

Summary of boats built by J/Boats, by year:[1]

  • J/24 1977
  • J/30 1979
  • J/36 1981
  • J/29 FR 1982
  • J/29 MH 1982
  • J/22 1983
  • J/35 1983
  • J/27 1984
  • J/40 1984
  • J/41 1984
  • J/34 1985
  • J/28 1986
  • J/34 C 1986
  • J/37 1987
  • J/33 1988
  • J/35C 1989
  • J/37C 1989
  • J/39 1989
  • J/44 1989
  • J/80 1992
  • J/92 1992
  • J/130 1994
  • J/105 1995
  • J/110 1995
  • J/46 1995
  • J/160 1996
  • J/32 1996
  • J/125 1997
  • J/90 1997
  • J/120 1999
  • J/42 1999
  • J/124 2002
  • J/145 2002
  • J/109 2004
  • J/100 2005
  • J/92S 2005
  • J/133 2006
  • J/122 2008
  • J/65 2008
  • J/97 2008
  • J/97E 2008
  • J/95 2009
  • J/111 2010
  • J/108 2012
  • J/70 2012
  • J/88 2013
  • J/122E 2014
  • J/112E 2015
  • J/11S 2016
  • J/121 2018
  • J/99 2019

See also

References
  1. Browning, Randy (2018). "J Boats". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  2. McArthur, Bruce (2019). "Rod Johnstone". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  3. 'J/Boats: Sailing to Success' by Anthony Dalton, Voyageur Press; ISBN 0760321701, ISBN 978-0760321706
  4. J/Boats (2020). "Current J/Boat Models". jboats.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  5. "J/35". Practical Sailor. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  6. McArthur, Bruce (2019). "J/22 sailboat". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  7. Sherwood, Richard M.: A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition, pages 280-281. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. ISBN 0-395-65239-1
  8. McArthur, Bruce (2019). "J/35 sailboat". sailboatdata.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  9. J/Boats (2020). "Classic J/Models". jboats.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
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