About us

Sierra Boat Company got its start in 1952, when R. Stanley Dollar Jr., Oliver Meek, and Morlin Visel purchased a bankrupt boat building business in Carnelian Bay. The short-lived endeavor had begun in the late 1940s building utility boats for the U.S. Navy. The site included two large production buildings and a marina created from an inland lagoon leftover from the turn-of-the-century logging industry. It provided the perfect location for the three partners to store their many race boats.

With the mid-1950s Tahoe tourism boom, Sierra Boat Company quickly gained momentum. In 1954, it became the first Century Boat dealer in California. Several years later, Dick Clarke, one of Dollar’s top race-boat mechanics, joined the staff. In addition to selling boats, Clarke established the mechanical and refinish services required to maintain them. He became General Manager in the early 1960s, and Sierra Boat Company became one of the top Century Boat dealers in the country.

By the early 1970s, Century had stopped building wooden boats. Sierra Boat Company was selling new fiberglass boats, but wooden boats remained Dick Clarke’s great passion. He began annual excursions east in search of forgotten gems that he could bring back to Sierra Boat Company, restore in its now well-established shops, and then sell to his Tahoe customers. Clarke’s success solidified Sierra Boat Company’s reputation as one of the premiere wooden boat restoration businesses in the United States.

In 1977, Oliver Meek, the last of the three original partners, negotiated the sale of the business to George G. Hall and family. In the late 1960s, the two original buildings had been connected, and a second story was added to the entire facility. During the Hall years, the company improved the harbor, dredging the marina and adding new floating docks, as well as adding three additional warehouses, bringing storage capacity to some 450 boats, more than half of them wood.

Eventually, the company abandoned new boat sales in favor of pursuing its now long tradition, passion, and expertise for antique and classic wooden boats. From 1993 to 2013, Sierra Boat Company was host to the Tahoe Yacht Club’s Concours d’Elegance, the most prestigious wooden boat show in the country. The company’s legendary shops have been responsible for more than a few show winners through the years.

Today, Sierra Boat Company offers a modern full-service 120-slip marina, but its heart and soul remain dedicated to wooden boats. With its long history, skilled craftsmen, and extensive shop facilities, the company — now under the stewardship of its third owner, a long-time customer and wooden boat enthusiast – is committed to preserving the tradition of wooden boating on Lake Tahoe.