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Named after Norman Rockwell who hid an image of the device in every painting he did. The image is really hard to find in the pictures and that's why most people don't know about it. He designed the pin when he was a young man and didn't have much money, being an unknown artist, and he needed a cleat for his new Elco yacht but couldn't afford it so he put a piece of pipe through a hole in a plank and screwed it upright to the bow deck. It worked so well that all his unknown artist friends wanted them on their yachts and began calling them Norman Pins. Dick Fisher was a personal friend of Norman Rockwell and paid him a premium for every one he put on a Boston Whaler. I guess the patent is expired now so they are made by a bunch of different companies and Norman Rockwell can't use the money anymore anyway.
I winter in Ft. Myers and summer in St. Joseph, Michigan. It’s now about 12 years since I’ve joined this group. I gave my 1972 whaler to my daughter and sold the 17’. Bought an O’Day 28 sailboat and sailed on Lake Michigan. Yesterday I bought a 2005 130 Sport.
It's a good question and I do not know the answer.
Historically, the norman pin was the pin or bar going through a Samson post. When the 13 foot Whaler was developed, Fisher put a pin in the bow to use as a cleat and while the raised fiberglass protrusion there is not a Samson post, the pin serves the exact same purpose so he called it the norman pin.
Huckleberry, why are people always asking me if I lie? ;-)
I winter in Ft. Myers and summer in St. Joseph, Michigan. It’s now about 12 years since I’ve joined this group. I gave my 1972 whaler to my daughter and sold the 17’. Bought an O’Day 28 sailboat and sailed on Lake Michigan. Yesterday I bought a 2005 130 Sport.
