S2 Yachts is an Americanboat builder based in Holland, Michigan. From 1974 until 1989 the company specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats and it continues as a builder of motorboats. The company was founded by Leon Slikkers in 1974 and remained in business in 2019 as the parent company of Tiara Yachts.
History
Slikkers had initially founded a motorboatmanufacturing company, Slickcraft. He sold the company and the sale included a non-compete clause that precluded him from establishing another power boat manufacturing company for a period of some years. The agreement did not include sailboats, so Slikkers founded S2 Yachts in a newly constructed plant that included strict production efficiencies and quality control mechanisms. For instance the fiberglass hulls were constructed in a climate-controlled room and remained in their molds until the majority of the interiors had been fitted, ensuring minimum deformation of the hulls. The new company hired many experienced workers and also signed up experienced boat dealers to sell the product line. S2 Yachts started building power boats once the clause had expired in the late 1970s, as the Tiara Yachts line of boats. Tiara Yachts remained in business in 2019. Slikkers eventually bought back Slickcraft at a fraction of the price he had sold it for. Sailboat production ended in 1989, due to the downturn in the sailboat industry, but the company continued as a motorboat builder. In 1989 the company was contacted by the class association for the S2 7.9, a popular sailboat racing boat. The association asked if the design could be put back into limited production and the company agreed, with a stipulation of a minimum order of ten boats to restart production. Despite an effort by the association and the S2 dealership network to drum up orders, the ten boat minimum was not met and production was not resumed. Popular Sailing magazine termed this incident, "an unfortunate commentary on the sailboat industry" and noted it marked the end of sailboat production. The company had a good reputation for the quality construction of its sailboats, including good interior fit-outs. Practical Sailor noted "The S2s were well-built. Whereas other production companies frequently cheapened or upgraded models from year to year to find marketing niches, S2 made boats to sell near the high end of the production boat market, and kept the quality at a consistent level."
