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Tim learns he loves to be on the water.
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At the age of 13, Tim buys his first $25 kayak kit consisting of pine 1x1s and a sheet of canvas. It was a very simple, boxy kayak that Tim described as feeling like "magic" when he took it out on the water. It wasn't long before Tim designed a more sophisticated boat that he paddles up and down the Malibu coast through junior high.
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To solve the problem of the kayak getting filled with water in the high surf, Tim took a tandem surfboard and carved out a butt well and a heel well and a place to put his diving gear. It moved through the water great.
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The sit-on-top evolves
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Tim designs a similar design with a a better shape from plaster and makes a mold.Using the mold Tim starts making fiberglass boats that have more of a kayaks shape.
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While down on the beach someone asks, "how much?" Tim throws out $150 bucks and sells his first kayak!
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Made three 16' fiberglass designs with hatches and a tank well foe scuba gear. This was the first high production model in that you could lay up the two halves and put them together before they hardened overnight.
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In the late 70's and early 80's, Tim spent his summers in a remote property up on Vancouver Island that was 20 miles away from the nearest town. This taught him a lot about being on the water; there were no roads, so one had to travel by water.
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In about three years Tim sells 22 of his kayak designs to a 2 mile section of beach with no effort at all. He thought, "If I can sell that many to this tiny section of beach, imagine what I could do with all of Hawaii or California!"
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Tim was experimenting and made an outrigger canoe. This was a twist on the Malibu Outrigger as it was much lighter so that it could be paddled. It wasn't real fast but it was comfortable and moved a long just fine.
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Tim learns about rotational molding. He is a little weary about "plastic" kayaks but eventually talks himself into making the kayaks out of polyethylene.
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Tim makes his own molds and his own machine and spends two years learning the process and makes about 500 boats.
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Tim packs up and moves the company to Bellingham.
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Tim packs his bags, his machine, and his boats and moves to Bellingham, WA to start Ocean Kayak.
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In 1997 Johnson Worldwide Associates purchased Ocean Kayak from Tim which required him to sign a standard "non-compete" agreement; but not without some reservations. So he arranged to spend two years working for Ocean Kayak as a consultant.
