The lobster boat SANDY ROSE hauled up at Jonesport Shipyard in Jonesport getting her keel coolers replaced.
Peter Buxton of Buxton Boats in Sunset is getting ready to frame up this 31+ foot lobster boat hull.
Farrin Boat Shop, Walpole, ME
After 15 months in Farrin’s Boat Shop the new commercial fishing boat MISS EMILY, owned by Tom McNulty, Sr. of Cape May, New Jersey, was launched at Gamage’s Shipyard in South Bristol in early October.
The bare hull, a Mussel Ridge 42, arrived at the shop and they began by installing the running gear, fuel tanks for 800 gallons of fuel, 100-gallon water tank forward (has a reverse osmosis water filtration system that purifies the water before it goes to the tank), deck flange and then installed a C-18 Caterpillar diesel engine and a 9 kW Northern Lights genset. They also added storage aft, rope locker, tuna tank and a vacuum flush head system. With the top on they turned their attention to the accommodations. Down forward she has four berths, to port is a head with separate shower and to starboard there is a utility room for rod storage and the electrical locker. Up in the shelter on the starboard side there is the helm with a bulkhead full of engine gauges and surrounded by a mass of Furuno electronics (two chart plotters, Sounder, Timezero navigational software, FLIR, Starlink satellite computer, autopilot, two VHFs and a Fusion stereo) with a very comfortable helm seat, nav-seat to port, behind which is a settee with a table with a carved scallop in the middle and opposite this is a full galley. The galley has a Corian countertop, two-burner stove, microwave, separate refrigerator and freezer, hot and cold running water. The accommodations are fitted with reverse air, which will give you either heat or air conditioning. Out in the cockpit on the starboard side is a helm station with a pot hauler, tackle station with its own sink to port, fresh and salt water washdown, ten rocket launchers with multi-coloured lights in the cockpit and underwater. There is even a washdown on the bow, a bow thruster, Humphrey trim tabs and Victron inverter.
This is the owner’s personal fishing boat and this is why there are a lot of conveniences. Over the years he has owned and fished on scallopers and clammers with some nice creature comforts. This time he figured he wanted a boat which was comfortable but was also versatile, allowing him to go out after a variety of fish. Brian Farrin, who headed this project, explained, “He said he has never been able to spend money on himself and this is his first opportunity he has been able to do it. I went through the list and he got everything and then some that he wanted.”
Those assisting Brian on this project were Kyle Dunstan, Gage Shatis, and Dan Young. Troy Benner did the wiring, Raymond Cole the hydraulics, Alex Martin of Blue Water did the metal fabrication, John Kelsey built the doors, Sawyer & Whitten the electronics and Mike Tipipo out of Rhode Island did the custom fishing station storage spaces. Jason from Epifanes painted the house, painted the masts, the exterior, and Farrin’s painted the interior. Tom was very particular about the colours. The hull, which is cobalt blue like his other commercial boats, was buffed twice and then given a ceramic coating to make it shiny. The house is Snow White, the wash rails are Chevy white and there was a custom color used for the cockpit deck. Tom also wanted cherry trim throughout.
One of the fishes he likes going for is sea bass, which means he will be anchored bow and stern over a shipwreck, which he did just after getting the boat to Cape May. He also wants to do some tuna and swordfishing. He was hoping to have this boat in the spring, but getting everything done the way Tom and Brian wanted it takes time. Tom changed the head and then asked where the door was for the forward bunks. Brian added, “If we built it by plan the door would have been half-way through the hatch and that is not practical. Instead, we put a curtain up so it will close and it actually makes it nicer and still gives you the privacy you wanted.”
The only other personal commercial boat Tom has owned was a Donnell 35, which he fished for over 20 years. He sold that and bought a center console and quickly found that was not the boat for him. Tom added, “I have always wanted a Downeast boat. I should have built it ten years ago, but here I am. I have been pretty fortunate. I have built five scallop boats down in Alabama and all with the same guy and he and I became best friends over the years by building these boats. I never had to worry about them, he built me a really nice boat and I feel the same way about Bruce. I am not doing five sportfishing boats, but I feel like I lucked out getting Bruce to do it. If I was to do another boat, Bruce would do it.”
When asked how he picked Farrin’s Boat Shop, Tom said, “When I went up to meet Albert Hutchinson [Hutchinson Composites] for the hull he gave me two names and of them was Bruce. When I went down and visited with Bruce, I knew he was the guy that I wanted to build my boat. I have been around boats my whole life so I kind of knew what I wanted, but he has also been building boats all his life so it was actually fun working with him because he is a boat guy and I am a boat guy so between the two of us we figured it out. Brian treated me really well and he did an awesome job overseeing this project. Everybody in that shop, even if they weren’t working on the boat, were great. I couldn’t have asked for a better boatbuilder and shop.”
How was the trip to Cape May? “My son, Tom Jr., and I left Wednesday, stopped in Point Judith, Rhode Island Wednesday night and got back to Cape May on Thursday,” said Tom. “The ride was freaking awesome. I mean we got in some weather off of New Jersey and it blew pretty hard sou’west and sou’west down here off of New Jersey can get pretty raunchy. She handled it fine, no problems. When you have a new boat like that you kind of look for things that go wrong and we were on her for two days with nothing to do.”
HINDU, Thomaston, ME
For those that have traveled through Thomaston in the last few years, opposite the former site of the Maine State Prison there is a big plastic shed, housing a classic schooner, which is being totally rebuilt by her owners. HINDU was launched as PRINCESS PAT and later named SAIS PAS, then ANNA LEE AMES. She is a 61-foot 3-inch auxiliary schooner designed by William Hand, Jr. and built by Hodgdon Brothers of East Boothbay in 1925.
Presently they are beginning the planking phase. They replaced the oak keel, stem, and horn timber with ones of purple heart and all the oak frames were replaced with ones of black locust. As for fasteners they replaced the iron screws with ones of silicone bronze. The planking will be of Douglas Fir and when I was there the end of October, they had six strakes on each side.
When asked about the upgrade in woods it was stated that they were working on a preservation plan, which included standards developed by the Secretary of Interior. They want to make sure that this massive effort of rehabilitating and restoring the boat is going to carry the boat through as long of a life as it can possibly have, so nobody else has to go through this torture.
They were hoping to have the boat ready to be relaunched and back in Provincetown, Massachusetts by June 2024. They presently have three workers with another couple coming in by the first of November. Once the planking is complete, they will turn their attention to the deck framing, deck, cabins and then the spars and systems.
Her interior will not be in when she is launched. HINDU was originally a yacht with staterooms. Josh, the owner and his father William Rowan want to restore the interior or her original design and plan to do that over the next five years.
Doing a major restoration project like this is not inexpensive. To defray some of the costs they have started a non-profit, which you can find at sailasyouare.org. The town of Provincetown has already given them a grant to help with rebuilding the deck.
Also, in town is another of their fleet, BLOODHOUND, which is at Lyman-Morse, being winterized and readied for the winter. They are applying for grants to repower her as her old engine could become an issue if she needs any parts. Like many old engines, finding parts can be a challenge and Josh feels that since she is being used on a charter boat it is a ticking time bomb.
Hodgdon Yacht Tenders, Damariscotta, ME
Hodgdon Tenders, the Superyacht tender division of Hodgdon Yachts, announced that they have launched an 11.4 meter aft helm Superyacht limousine tender, designed by Michael Peters Yacht Design. The tender will be delivered to a Northern European shipyard.
Highlights of the Limousine include accommodations for up to 15 guests, a climate-controlled interior with custom upholstery and detailing, forward and aft outside guest seating areas, exterior wet-bar, gyro stabilization, and a T-top that lowers for stowage. Guests and crew can board from port or starboard sides.
The tender is powered by twin Volvo D4-320 engines, which are accessible through a full-width hatch that raises and lowers electrically. The Michael Peters Yacht Design hull provides stable and secure transportation, even in unfavorable conditions. Much of the exterior stainless-steel hardware on the tender, including the Hodgdon signature flush anchor is custom fabricated. The meticulous levels of detail invested in the layout and the installation of mechanical, electrical, and safety systems result in a tender whose construction is of unmatched quality.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to deliver this beautiful American built tender,” said Audrey Hodgdon, Director of Sales & Marketing. “The thoughtful details that can be seen throughout are a testament to the experience of the Owner’s team and the level of fit and finish demonstrate our team’s commitment to high quality construction.”
Richard Stanley, Brunswick, ME
It is always an interesting time stopping by and seeing where Richard Stanley and Sawyer Theriault are on rebuilding the Alden schooner. The hull is basically done, except for putting on the guardrails and paint. Over the last year they have put in new floors, frames, planks, repaired the keel and bulwarks, refastened the bilge clamp and then caulked. They are now re-nailing the ceiling stock. This was complicated as the shape of the hull changed when they made the hull repairs and then some of the interior was removed to make room so they could do the repairs. When this is completed, they will work on the engine, cockpit, and rudder. All the hardware on the spars was removed and this needs to be put back on.
The plan is to move over to Yankee Marina in Yarmouth and begin work on the 60-foot motor yacht IROQUOIS sometime in November. Richard said, “The first thing we are going to start by looking at the forensic surveyor’s survey and tackle all the items they found needed to be changed. This could take a couple of months to complete and then we will continue on finishing out the interior. Hopefully, we will have her done this spring. Then we will come back and finish up this schooner. Then the owner has MERGANSER and he is talking about having her decks done as all the bungs are popping out. Richard also thought about taking a nail set, drive the nails down a little bit and then take a ½-inch bung cutter, square off the ends, make the hole a little deeper and then put in new bungs.
In Richard’s spare time he has been working on a 26-footer, which his father built. Richard added, “I feel this is one of the nicest little boats, it handles so nicely. She has a 56-hp Yanmar in her and does about 8 or 10 knots. My father always said that it handled good because the rudder distance between the back of the prop and the rudder, he made that for some reason further back from the propeller. He thinks that that makes it turned and handle better.”
Richard has refastened her. He said, “She originally had in 1963 number 10 wire screws which there was not much left of. So, from the bulkhead back about 20 years ago we reframed her. She had 1½-inch number 12s in there and they weren’t in too bad of shape, but not good so they needed to come out and new ones put in. I took those out, about 2,000 screws in the floor timbers, frames and the planking and put 1½-inch number 14 wire screws everywhere above the waterline. With that completed he made a new instrument panel board, a fold-down seat with blocks and repacked the stuffing box.
He also has been working on a 28-footer at the old Mount Desert Boat Yard at the head of Somes Sound. This project he has been working on for three years off and on. He replaced 12 frames on each side back aft at the turn of the bilge and then refastened the bottom. He is now working on the topsides. The owner keeps coming in and digging out places of rot in the deck, which Richard has to patch. When all the rot is repaired he plans to cover with epoxy cloth and trim out. The cabin sides are rotten and Richard has placed mahogany plywood on the inside and outside and will finish the outside bright. This boat was thought to have been built by Bob Rich, but Richard is not so sure. He is hoping Chummy Rich might know.
Another boat Richard has been lending a hand on is a 34-footer built by Jim Rich. Richard said that she needs a lot of work and he is just grinding off the bottom paint and that Chummy will take her over to his shop and work on it this winter
