A view inside the shop at Padebco Custom Boats in Round Pond. The boats on the back wall are in for major work and the ones in the foreground are swapped out as soon as their maintenance and repairs are complete.
Wayne Rich has his lobster boat RICH RETURNS in the shop at his mother’s home in Bernard. He has removed the platform, did some repairs underneath and is now putting down a new fir platform. Unfortunately, she will be painted gray and not finished bright.
Shipyard at Boothbay Harbor, Bristol Marine, Boothbay Harbor
Sitting on the dock was the John Alden designed schooner SUMMERWIND, which was built by Charles Morse of Thomaston in 1929. Over the years she has had several rebuilds and she came in last year for another one. Once in the shop they found the centreline structure good and then opened up her transom and found it needed to be rebuilt. She also underwent a major systems upgrade, serviced her main engine, a MAN diesel, and replaced hydraulic pumps. After 18 months in the shop the project was complete and she was launched. She was scheduled to head to Newport, Rhode Island in the middle of January and then head for the Mediterranean and the Caribbean.
On the main railway is the schooner ISAAC EVANS, which is in for a lot of structural work. They know they need to do work around the centreboard and possibly install a new engine. They figure this is going to be a two-year project, but the hope is to do the rebuild in two phase and have her sailing this summer.
In the shops are a number of yachts in for storage with miscellaneous repairs and annual maintenance. One of the classic yachts in the shed is having work done on her centreboard; a 40-foot modern sailboat is getting a new teak deck, and the Friendship sloop FREEDOM is getting repairs made.
This fall they have had a crew up in Greenville on Moosehead Lake working on the tour boat KATAHDIN. They replaced the portside deck on the second deck, which meant all new deck beams, a total of 38. The beams are pine with plywood over them. They will be returning in the spring to do more deck work and presently they are laminating more beams at Boothbay Harbor for this project. They figure that this will be an eight-week project. Then next fall they will do more deck work, this time on the starboard side. The Moosehead Marine Museum, who is KATAHDIN’s caretaker, has a plan for keeping KATAHDIN in great condition, this means there is a year schedule for certain work to be done periodically. Also, KATAHDIN will be hauled in a couple of years, which means Prock Marine of Rockland will bring up their sectional dry-dock and take her out of the water so her bottom can be inspected and painted.
Chislett’s Boating and Design, Dover, NH
I remember meeting Cameron Chislett when he worked for Stacy Raymond at General Marine in Biddeford in the early 2000s. In the beginning he learned fiberglassing in South Africa before going to The Landing School and studying yacht design. While he was at General Marine, he was learning all about fiberglass construction. Then he moved to New Hampshire and opened a shop there and I finally found the time to stop by, which I should have done years ago as this is a very interesting shop.
They are the builders of the Maritime Skiffs. On the floor were a number of different models in various states of construction. They are doing an 18 for a customer who wants to go camping and fishing from the Bahamas to the State of Maine. This boat is being finished with a raised deck on the bow so the customer can camp on board. They have two 23-foot police boats under construction and they are heading west to Catalina Island in California. Then there is a 25-foot pilothouse model underway for the Freeport harbormaster.
They also do repairs on Maritime Skiffs. They currently have the Kittery harbormasters boat in for some work.
As for outboards they are a dealer for Suzuki and this is what they use for the Maritime Skiff line.
The Maritime Skiff line includes four skiffs, four centre consoles, five centre cabin and two full cabin models.
Just outside the office is a 1985 Mirage 338 sailboat, which is Camerons. He did a six-year restoration of this boat, which included a new keel with a lifting bulb keel and a carbon fiber rudder. He also gutted the interior and did cruising, camp-style accommodations. His goal was to do a trip to the Bahamas with his wife Abbie and their two children and be able to trailer it to Florida, which they did last year for three months and may go again next year. This year she is just getting regular maintenance; however, he may repower her. She currently has a 9-hp 1GM10 and he has a 2GM20, which would push this boat along much easier.
In 2003 Cameron started working for himself in the back shed of General Marine and three years later moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He has kept in close contact with Stacy at General Marine and in fact has the Northern Bay 36 moulds, which he has borrowed from Stacy. He thinks he has one to build, a sportfisherman, and there are others who are interested.
Despite doing 50 to 60 Maritime Skiff models, he is looking for additional work. He can do design work, but he also has a CNC machine for cutting out parts for plugs, moulds, and custom parts such as livewells.
Eric Dow, Boatbuilder, Brooklin, ME
After the airplane left, which was in the main shop for about four years, came LUCILLE. She was a wooden lobster boat, designed by Doug Dodge and built by the first-year students at The Boat School in Calais and Lubec in 1972. She was in to have her bottom completely refastened. She has had a good owner for the last 10 or 15 years and they keep up with her maintenance. She was in about four years ago when they replaced the engine beds and added a crash bulkhead.
Once she was done and moved out, in came a 1964 34-foot Clinton Beal lobster boat. She came in to have her bottom gone over and a new deck. Eric said that they checked her bottom and were refastening a number of areas. They were also checking the caulking and redoing what needed to be replaced. They had the rotten canvas deck stripped off and were fairing up the deck. This time they were going to put down a mat and Dynel combination, which will look like canvas, but last a lot longer.
In the small shop they have a cold moulded Haven 12½ in for major repairs. She went adrift in one of the fall storms and got caught under a dock. Eric thought a lot of the damage was caused by the salvager. They originally thought about replacing the hull, but now think they can save it.
Then there are a bunch of smaller projects, one building a 15-foot pulling boat, all of which will keep him busy right through the spring and into summer.
Padebco Custom Boats, Round Pond, ME
This yard balances storage and repair and boatbuilder very well.
In the lower shops on the water, they suffered some flooding in the wooden building right on the water. The water entered the building, did some damage to the pilings and cribwork and they had about a foot of water over the floor. Fortunately, the damage that had been done in the first storm was shored up and that probably saved the building from severe damage. The other shop is higher and did not sustain any damage. In there they are building a new Padebco 23, which will be delivered to her owner from Biddeford Pool this spring. An older Padebco 21 is in for a new platform and fuel tank. There is also a Padebco 27, almost 20 years old, in for a new engine, platform and fuel tank.
Up the road are their storage buildings and a nice work shops that can fit a number of boats at one time. TRUE NORTH is a Padebco 29, and her engine has been removed and they are replacing her fuel tank. Next to her is a Padebco 32, which last year got a new suite of electronics and is getting some owner wanted upgrades. This owner purchased her last year and after a year of use determined what he would like changed. What was interesting is that the owner felt that the bow was too high in the air when running so he did a lot of drone footage showing how she sailed. Leon MacCorkle, owner of the yard, said that they are going to install Zipwake trim tabs. He added, “Jet boats tend to ride bow up a little bit and he wants to take that out. His son-in-law does drones and so we have a ton of drone footage of this boat. This really helped to show how the boat trimmed out and I think it needs a little bit of help trimming the bow down a little bit. I think you will get a little more speed and will track a little better.”
Also in the shop is a Parker 2530, was purchased by Leon’s wife. He added, “We have a 23 now, which we will sell. She wanted a pilothouse because the only time that we can go out on the water is in the spring and in the fall. The summers are too busy. It had an I/O diesel and would overheat over 2000 RPMs. We decided to go with twin 225-hp outboards and a joystick to make it easier to operate. Hopefully, we will have her in the water this spring.”
The boats nearer the doors are ones that come in for their annual maintenance and minor repairs and then are taken back to the storage shed and another set is brought in for their work. One of the boats is a Bridges Point 24 sailboat and she is getting her varnish redone and figure out a problem with the electric drive, which seems to have an electrical issue. Then there is a Padebco 21 for varnish and a Padebco 23 for general maintenance.
Outside in storage are a number of boats that they need to get in, mostly for regular maintenance. However, there is a 29-foot power boat that needs to have the rub rail removed and resealed to stop the rain from getting in the boat.
Wayne Rich, Bernard, ME
Four years ago, we covered Wayne in a local shop doing a major repair job on his lobster boat RICH RETURNS. She was built by Chummy Rich in 1982 and Wayne purchased her from her owner on Cape Cod more than 20 years ago. He absolutely loves this boat and you can tell by the care he gives her.
He thought he was going to get everything done in a couple of weeks, but two months later he was still working on her, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. He has made repairs to the garboard plank and with the garboard planks off he refastened the ribs to the keel. Then he ripped out the platform and replaced anything underneath that looked like it might be an issue. He replaced the fiberglass exhaust elbow, which had been crushed by the hose clamp with a flexible tube and replaced hoses and a hydraulic pump. When he went to pull the wire harness from the engine all the wires came out of their ends so he brought in an electrician who redid the wire ends. The electrician also hooked up a stereo system, which he had done without for several years. Then it was onto replacing the platform. He found some vertical grain fir, five-quarter for the deck, but when he replaced the beams, he went from 2 x 6 to 2 x 4 saying he likes just a little more room when climbing underneath the deck. Chummy was coming in and watching the progress and Wayne liked his visits as his eye picked up where he was off just a fraction of an inch saying that he needed to take a little off the next plank before setting it in. It is too bad that he is not finishing the deck bright, but felt it was going to be less slippery if he painted it and added non-skid.
When I was looking under the platform, I was amazed at how well she has aged. Wayne was going to re-red lead, but found out that he was going to have to sand the entire area before he could do that and that was going to add weeks to the project so he left it as it was.
Chummy is working on a small runabout he thinks was a kit boat from back in the 1950s or ‘60s. He changed her sheer and is now adding a new deck. He is looking to make her a nice runabout for fishing five lobster traps.
Even while Wayne is working on his boat he still helps at Rich’s Boat Yard in West Tremont. He is hoping once he is done with his boat and deck project at the house, he will be back over there to help them get boats ready for the upcoming season.
Wayne Beal Boat Shop, Jonesport, ME
The main project in the shop is a Repco 37. They stripped her down to a bare hull and then cut her down the stern and up into the bilges to the main bulkhead. They then widened her out 27 inches on the top and 24 inches at the waterline, making her 7 inches wider in the middle and a 11 feet 6 inches on the stern. She then got a new Wayne Beal 32 top and a new paint job. Jeremy thought that she should be done and out the door early in February.
Before the Repco they finished off a Wayne Beal 42, AURORA as a lobster boat. She was finished with bulkheads down forward so they could add an interior later if they wanted to. She is powered with a 730-hp MAN and is current at Billing’s Diesel & Marine in Stonington having the hydraulics installed and metal fabrication done.
LITTLE GIRL, Shawn Alley’s race boat, is still sitting in the corner, but the rumour is that her engine is being readied and should be back in her for the start of the racing season. The interesting aspect of this project is that he has switched from a Ford to a Chevrolet power plant.
Jeremy was not sure what boat he was dragging in next. THUNDERBOLT, a South Shore 30 owned by Bruce and Bruce Engert of Boothbay Harbor. They are in for paint and maybe altering the spray rails. The other projects include: an Osmond 40 for work under her platform, including fuel tanks and boxes and then paint the hull; a Mitchell Cove 32; a RP-40; a Duffy 35 to be repowered; a facelift on a Wayne Beal 36; a Calvin Beal 38 for platform work; and Mike Beal’s LITTLE BREV for a new house. There are also two little boats, a Carolina Skiff 22 and an Ernest Libby, Jr. V-bottom outboard boats also needing work. If this is not enough, they need to lay up two new Wayne Beal 46 hulls.
