Anaheim Boat Firm to Be Acquired

ANAHEIM —  Taylor-Dunn Manufacturing Co. said Friday it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Duffield Marine Inc., the maker of canopied electric boats that have become popular pleasure cruisers on Newport Harbor.

Taylor-Dunn, an Anaheim maker of electric utility vehicles, is expected to complete its purchase of Duffield within the next 60 to 90 days. A price and terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

As a subsidiary of Taylor-Dunn, Duffield Marine would get a big marketing boost in its efforts to market its electric boats elsewhere, including Florida, the Pacific Rim and Europe. Duffield would operate as a subsidiary of Taylor-Dunn, but is expected to continue to manufacture its boats from its Costa Mesa headquarters.

“The synergy between the two companies is phenomenal,” said Gary Crane, a spokesman for Duffield Marine. “You can’t ask for a better marriage.”

Marshall (Duffy) Duffield started his company more than two decades ago, when, as a teen-ager, he took an electrical system from an old golf cart and installed it on the family boat. More than 800 of his boats are now in use in Southern California.

Taylor-Dunn has sales of about $25 million a year. In 1990, two former San Fernando Valley electronics executives, Arthur J. Goodwin and Milton L. Sneller, bought the privately held company. It was founded more than 40 years ago by Anaheim poultry producer R.D. Taylor, who developed an electrically powered cart to ease the feeding of chickens.