Contact Jim backus

Kindly allow a business day to receive a response from Jim. 

Jim Backus is a graduate of Bryant College and majored in Business Administration. While at Bryant, Jim worked for architects in Providence, Rhode Island and interviewed and was accepted to Rhode Island School of Design in Architecture. This was not to happen, however.  Vietnam was on and Jim was drafted into the US Army and joined the Marine Corps for one tour of duty. 

Jim would later take the Westlawn School of Yacht Design course during which he apprenticed at Pearson Yachts in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and Robert Perry, Yacht Designers in Seattle, Washington. Both were tremendous in providing a practical hands-on education not possible from a college.

Jim opened his design office in 1981 and his first design was the Victory 37 Lord Nelson tug. This was followed by the Victory 49. Also designed was the Gatsby 39; all production designs built in Taiwan. Many one-off designs were done from the Cigarillo 14, a scaled down Cigarette powerboat, to a hard chine aluminum 36' classic ketch and an aluminum 26' tug/workboat with a stand-up headroom engine room. A unique sportfishing boat with side-mounted outboards later resulted in an "exploration" boat for two with side mounted engines providing a unique long-term interior. 

Jim later moved back to Connecticut and became the president of Westlawn School of Yacht Design, a component of National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) until Westlawn became part of American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC).

In the following years Jim became interested in small home design, particularly with interval design based on 4 and 8 feet to maximize construction for such homes. Successful small designs in 12'x12', 16'x16' and 20'x24' have been done. Self-supporting roof systems are currently being developed for using "great-room" concepts with solar panel off-grid designs using boat construction concepts. 

To contact Jim, use the above shown email.