Preview: The Beloved Bartender – A Proven Seaworthy Design for Exploring the Pacific Northwest
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February 21, 2020
Email this Video to a FriendBartenders are legendary boats of the Oregon coast designed and built to take on the challenges of the Columbia River bar, one of the roughest stretches of water in the world.
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20 Responses So Far to “The Beloved Bartender – A Proven Seaworthy Design for Exploring the Pacific Northwest”
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Tim Thompson says:
Have been hoping for some “Bartender” time . I’m in my third year on the water with my 20.5 ‘ cuddly cabin style Bartender. I built here on Prince Edward Island Canada. Fairly new to this great site and when I have time I’ll figure out how to share my two year build incorporating my own vertical lifting transom to bring the 50hp Honda fully up into the hull for beaching …..that won’t mean much til you get to know an outboard powered bartender works. As to function…strongly suggest hunting down the USCG’s 1958? Acceptance report on testing the 22’ foot outboard powered bartender in the Columbia bar area…. It’s no BS these things truly are legendary, if built to original specs.
Steve Stone says:
Hi Tim. Congrats on the Bartender build. Can you send a few photos to support(at sign)offcenterharbor.com? We’d love to see her.
Gordon Heggie says:
Hi there. I am in Mornington in Victoria , Australia. I have just completed building a Caledonian Yawl and am about to start building a 19 foot Bartender.
I sail the Caledonian Yawl in Port Phillip and will use the Bartender on Port Phillip and the Gippsland Lakes.
I read everything I can about the Bartender and was delighted to see the video and interview.
Thank you.
Bob Morgan says:
The Australian Bartenders were built in a factory at Mornington a then fishing village on the East side of Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. They were mainly a 19 foot 1/2 cabin version.
The state Water Police were equipped with them as their main patrol boat ans at least one remains in a marine antique dealers in Williamstown, a waterfront suburb . A 45 foot version was built also for the factories owner, Bernard Dowd, a wealthy fashion house owner.
It was called “Miss Australia” as he started and owned the rights to the “Miss Australia Quest”.
Denise Connelly says:
Great boat. I had one when I lived in West Seattle. Found it an warehouse yard pretty beat up had a large hole in the side and a bad engine. Brought to my house, built a shed over it, started working on it. Never finished. To my profound regret. Great boat. Mr Calkins designed a magnificent boat.
Neil Moomey says:
I want one! I’ve always dreamed of a 19ft Bartender completely open cockpit with minimal center console and no windshield. I think it would have a lot more deck space that way for sport fishing.
Chris Noto says:
Another excellent video. But, please lose the blue horizontal lines from the full frame view. Pretty please?
Brent Williams says:
Great video, she is a beauty. Thanks for the interview. 🤙🤙🤙
Jim Dinneen says:
Very nice boat. Good video.
Tom Hughes says:
Here in Sydney (Australia) I have seen one of these boats I think about 21 feet, was some years ago and as I remember the power was an outboard mounted internally. I was intrigued to see one “in fact” It belonged to a member of the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol C 1980,.I had read of them in U.S. power boat magazines. would love to have a play in one!
Bo Neill says:
Tom, In this history of Bartenders, their use in Australia is mentioned.
https://bartenderboats.com/history/
Peter Hendrickson says:
Seems like the bar gods willed the wind, waves and currents to respect this tribute to an inspired design. Another grand interview and tribute.
John Powers says:
I caught that to. I thought it was like flipping a negative that made Jimi Hendrix right handed. Man what a sweet boat. Looks so at home in its environment. Owner was great to listen to.
David Tew says:
There’s an aluminum Bartender here in our harbor, owned by a CG Auxiliary member who does vessel safety checks each season. He works at the Bath Iron Works in aluminum and built the boat himself. He’s got a great sense of humor. The boat is named ‘Tin Man’.
David Tew says:
The music in the opening video (“Misirlou”) was inspired. At first I thought it was ‘Wipeout” but Bartenders don’t do that, do they?!
Thomas Freeburg says:
The Bartender is a great Pacific NW vessel. There are a number of these around and they are all beautiful as well as functional. It’s great to see OCH spend some camera time on a small power boat design! Perhaps a review of the Tolman Alaskan skiff will be next?
Doug Duffield says:
Wow what a nice video of this amazing boat. It reminds me of my Dyer 29 the use of space. The way it cuts through chop. Beautiful.
Thanks for sharing
steve schwartz says:
Another awesome boat with a great pedigree. Well done!
Michael Werneburg says:
Did I miss something? One shot shows the helmsman on the port side, all others on the starboard side! Great boat though!
Steve Stone says:
Oh my, good catch guys, and thanks for pointing this out. Indeed at 11:22 the helm transcends space and time to appear on the port side for a brief moment — rather than a disruption in the space/time continuum, it’s more likely that we had a missing tooth in the fine-tooth-comb we normally employ in our editing process, so we’ll get that corrected.