Pendley Boatworks

About

Welcome to Pendley Boatworks, a woman owned and operated small business. I am Lily Pendley and almost 15 years ago, I got my start repairing rowing shells. I learned to row at a small club team in Northern California and there was a small bones yard of run down equipment outside no one paid much mind to. A team mate approached me, knowing I was pretty handy, and asked if I would be willing to take on a restoration project with him on one of these old boats. I agreed and this set me on a path to where I am now. I delved into online resources, learned from industry professionals, and found a niche where I could explore my passion and build skills while serving the rowing community. Fiberglass, carbon fiber, fleet maintenance…it was all interesting to me and I understood how high performance athletes require reliable, high performing equipment.

I worked exclusively on rowing shells for a while, and started to dabble in automotive fiberglass work when a team truck found a light post that snuck up on them…then somebody with a ski boat heard about that and asked me to repair some holes in that…then before I knew it, I was building a Wherry for a customer, and here I am now, mostly working on small sailboats, rowing shells, and taking on whatever other neat projects come my way.

I have always held woodworking as a hobby, and that has melded nicely into working on sailboats, building small craft, making small cigar humidors, brightwork, and whatever else sparks my interest. What matters most to me, though, is creating community and sharing skills with those who are interested. I only got the experience I did because people shared their wealth of knowledge with me and I know the resources available to help people get into the trades or build these skills for themselves are hard to come by