Mermaid Marine
June 15, 2016
Awlgrip headquarters for Atlantic Canada.
While it may seem Awlgrip has been around forever the ubiquitous paint finish has only been seen as the go-to paint for yacht refinishing for the last 25 or so years. As the huge number of fibreglass boats built in the 70s and 80s age, the demand for high quality coatings for durable refinishing continues to grow. Prince Edward Island based Mermaid Marine, founded by Pierre Villeneuve and now headed by his son Patrick, has been the exclusive distributer for the Awlgripbrand for the last 15 or so years. This does not mean just keeping some inventory, but also mixing services and maintaining a trained staff on hand providing customers with expert advice on product selection and application.
The photos show the company’s 1965 Bertram 38 Sportfish “Mermaid” getting the full Awlgrip treatment.
Ever wonder where the name “Awlgrip” came from? According the company web site, the name was a “back of the napkin” idea by Bob Grow (founder of Grow Chemical) and Joe Dilschneider (founder of U.S. Paint). Back in 1973 the two were casting about for a name for the new marine paint they wanted to market. The paint, called Alumigrip, had originally been developed for the aircraft industry but testing had shown it performed well on yachts. Since the original name sounded like it only worked on aluminum they decided on Allgrip, to indicate a paint for all surfaces. However when a secretary typed up their notes, the writing on the napkin was so hard to read the “L” became a “W”.
