Beetle, Inc.

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The Beetle Cat Boat was named after the Beetle family who designed and originally constructed it. This family lived for generations at Clark's Point, New Bedford, MA and were widely known for the "Beetle Whaleboat", unexcelled in design and workmanship. The Beetle family could build these whale boats very quickly, and at the same time keep their sound standards of construction. They developed pre-fabrication in boat building, and employed mass production methods. Where it was usual to build the ribs first in other types of boats, they 'wrapped' the planks around the skeleton first, and put the frames in afterwards. This made it possible to build a complete whale boat in one day. In 1920 the Beetle's designed and built a small sail boat for one of the younger members of the family. This was the first Beetle Cat Boat. Outsiders, impressed with the performance of this boat in New England coastal waters and rivers, were quick to express interest in it. The result was that the Beetles turned to making catboats, adopting some of the manufacturing techniques they had used in building whaleboats, thereby making the Beetle Cat comparatively inexpensive -- within the reach of the average man. John H. Beetle (son of the founder, James Beetle) headed the business when production of the Original Beetle Cat Boat was underway. Upon his death in 1928, Miss Ruth Beetle, his daughter, took over the management...

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