An updated photograph of the Wheeler 55 under construction at Brooklin Boat Yard in Brooklin. They are now beginning to work on her interior systems.
The 42-foot RP WAIT-N-SEA in for major modifications at Friendship Boat Works. They changed the transom and added a split wheelhouse.
At York Marine in West Rockport, they are doing several upgrades, including cosmetics, on this Whisper Jet 36 before it goes up for sale at Yachting Solutions in Rockport.
Friendship Boat, Friendship, ME
The local fishing boat WAIT AND SEA, RP 42, is in the shop for some extensive work. They modified the transom, which was fitted with an aluminum structure. This was all cut out and lowered. She was originally an open wheelhouse, but that was enclosed to create a split wheelhouse with a new helm and sliding door. They also added an inverter, shore power, new forward windows, holding tank, pumps, new hatches and some new electronics. She was scheduled to be in the shop for a month, but the work ended up taking them an additional two months to complete.
Before this they finished off a Calvin Beal 38 hull for a fisherman out of Providence, RI, which was launched early this summer.
Next, they will be finishing out a Calvin Beal 36 for a New Jersey yacht club. She will be powered with a 600-hp Cummins with a 150-gallon fuel tank and bow thruster. For accommodations she will be well appointed with a berth, galley with refrigerator, microwave and head and a large electronics package. This hull had been sold to another customer and the new owners want to change the hull colour, so she will be Awlgripped.
They have a couple of other smaller projects lined up. A local fisherman will be hauling out at Journey’s End Marina in Rockland and they will be going over there to do some work on her.
Rockport Marine, Rockport, ME
There are two major projects underway, one a new build and the other a repair on a boat that went up on the rocks in Narragansett Bay last year.
Sam Chamberlin, yacht designer at Rockport Marine, was busy working on PROJECT OUZEL. He was taking the designs from Langan Design Partners of Newport, Rhode Island and creating the details needed to construct the hull and deck for this 95-foot sailing yacht. He added, “Essentially almost none of the designer drawings will go to the floor. There is a lot of work of just taking the designer’s drawings and setup for the way we work. I am just getting ready to figure out how the cabin sole is going to be framed out.”
This boat is designed with classic lines of a pilothouse cutter, but will sport a high-performance rig and up-to-date rudder and keel. She will draw 12 feet of water. Her hull will be cold moulded, which at present is upside down and being faired. The hope is for a mid-summer launch in 2025.
The repair is on NARWHAL, which is a replica of a L. Francis Herreshoff design, built by Legendary Yachts in the Pacific Northwest in the 1990s. Following the grounding, she was trucked to Rockport Marine to be repaired. Sam Chamberlin added, “There were about half a dozen very large holes in the cold moulded hull and what we decided was that it was easier to turn half a dozen holes into one really big hole and then re-plank as opposed to re-planking each hole individually. There were numerous holes that you could climb right through. That cold molded hull layout has a lot of metal fasteners in it and so cleaning up all the holes and cutting back the scarfs and the various layers was just a nightmare with blades.”
Even though the damage to the port side of the hull was extensive the interior was not as bad as you would have thought. Sam said it was fairly localized to the port side, but they did have to remove much of the interior on that side to make the repairs.
They have started putting in the inner layer of planking. This will be followed by two layers of diagonal planking and an outer fore and aft layer.
They hope to have this project completed by next summer.
HURRICANE was a major project the last two years as she was converted from a charter/work boat running out to the Isle of Shoals into a very comfortable liveaboard. She spent most of the summer sailing out of Rockport, but will soon head to her homeport in the Boston area. The work included bottom framing and planking, followed by the interior.
Washburn & Doughty, East Boothbay, ME
Presently there are five tugboats under construction. Hull number #135 is a 93-foot Washburn & Doughty designed 6,700-hp Z-drive tug, which they are building for McAllister. Her sister, hull number #136, is on the ways and will launch the end of September. There is still quite a bit of work to do on her. This includes: electrical and joiner work, outfitting and system hook ups. They do not expect to deliver her until the end of the year.
They like having about 90 percent of the tug finish before she goes over. There re certain aspects of the build that they have to have the vessel in the water, loaded to certain capacities, so the vessel takes its final shape and they can lock in the drive shaft and do the alignment procedures.
They also have two Jensen designed 86-foot tugs under construction for Moran Towing. These will probably be delivered mid-next year and then fall of next year.
The final tug is #137, which is another sistership to McAllister’s boats and that is scheduled for delivery the end of next year.
When asked if they have had to deal with Tier 4 compliance, they said they had and that there were a lot of challenges. They said that the first couple of boats were difficult to design around the SCR. The SCR burns about 1000 degrees It can make the engine room really hot and the insulation needs to be really tight and the SCRs take up a lot of room. They built the state ferry SPEAR, which had a hybrid system and did not bid on the next ones as they were not sure what they hybrid plan consisted of.
They would like more orders, but they think the interests rates are making the buyers reluctant to place an order unless they really need to.
York Marine, Rockland, ME
At their Warren facility they were working on several boats. One was a Whisper Jet 36, which was having her jets completely rebuilt, drive trains, re-bedding the windows, making it ready for sale. This boat was built in 1998 and is powered with twin Cummins diesels. If you are interested, she is for sale through Yachting Solutions.
A Hinckley 36 picnic boat is in for a complete tear down and rebuild. She has sat for quite a while so they will soda blast the bottom, Awlgrip the hull, pull the engine, completely rebuild jet, add a new control system for docking, then strip all the varnish and redo.
A lobster boat style hull, about a 24-footer, is in from Long Island, New York and the customer wants to turn her into a day yacht. They will install the engine, shape the house to make as pretty as possible, add an interior, and then Awlgrip from top to bottom.
A daysailer is in storage and the owner has ordered an York 18 sailboat, which is under construction at the Rockland facility. The one in storage will be completely restored and then Awlgripped.
An Able Whistler 32 is getting a new bow platform, having her interior redone and some rig upgrades. She is scheduled to be launched next spring.
The major project the last couple of years was on an York 42, which is owned by a customer from Northeast Harbor at the Rockland facility. She has undergone a major facelift, including repowering and Awlgrip. Mike York, owner of the yard, said, “We are finishing the electrical for the most part right now. We will launch it in three or four weeks and then do sea trials. We will then put it over here for the winter.
The next big project will be finishing the Young Brothers 40 as a pleasure cruiser.
For other new builds they have two York 18s and a Crosby 26, which will be built this winter.
