This is a Flowers 46, which has been finished off as a very fancy cruiser. Unfortunately, her owner has a health issue, and the boat is for sale by Flowers Boat Works.
SARI ANN I on the ways waiting to be relaunched for the summer after a major rehab. She had some structural repairs made, a head added, then lots of paint and varnish.
Bluejacket Shipcrafters – Searsport, ME
This is always one of my favourite stops on the coast as it is interesting to see just what Al Ross has going on his bench. He was working on a model of a three-masted West Coast lumber schooner, which is being developed as a new kit. One of these exists in a museum on the West Coast. Al said, “They are a little different than our East Coast schooners. They have a round fore foot as opposed to an angular one ours seem to have. I do not know what the rationale is.”
This is a plank-on frame model. The stations are set up on a jig and you plank her just like you would on a full-sized vessel. Once this is completed then he will turn his attention to the deck. Al added that he has almost all the laser-cut pieces made, which includes the deck houses and hatches. One very interesting laser-cut piece is for the timber heads and cap rail. This is done all in one piece and if you made it each timber head would have to be made and placed exactly where they should go. “You don’t have to spend hours making individual timber heads,” continued Al, “and try and space them correctly. This way everything is already done, they even follow the curve of the vessel, and they are all straight up and down as they should be. I have set it up so that the first plank follows the shear and the sub deck. The second plank, they are both a quarter of an inch planks, and the deck to the bulwark top is 7/16 of an inch, so I made a jig. It has three mast holes in it and then it has spacers so that when I bend the bulwark planks to shape this keeps them in line. Then you just pop it out when you have got the two planks on. Once that is done then the timber heads are glued onto the waterway. When that is set you just trim down to the top and place the cap rail on.”
Another project Al has underway on the bench is a scow sloop, which was an old Laughing Whale kit, which they are redoing as a new kit. Al said, “This is a fairly quick project and was designed more for the novice builder. She is planked and there is a center profile with bulkheads. She is planked longitudinally on the sides and traversed on the bottom. Literally, almost everything on this is lasered. The only thing you are shaping is the bow sprit, masts, gaff, and boom.”
This kit is nearly ready, but they are waiting on some casting pieces to be done.
The third project on Al’s bench was of a section of bulwarks with the davits for holding a whaleboat on the side of a whaler. Charlie Cook made the New Bedford whaleboat for BlueJackets, but instead of mounting on a cradle he came up with this idea. Al said that all the pieces have been lasered, adding, “Even the base is lasered. There are strips of wood for the bulwarks, cap rail and davits. The davits are built up out of five pieces, so you have got the slots for the sheeves. So, there’s two blocks and four sheeves and those are the only fittings, all the rest is lasered as one piece. The ladder is built out of laser cut pieces and dowels. This is real quick and easy. It makes a neat display.”
Again, this is an upcoming kit, and they are waiting for castings.
The model for the kit of the 82-foot Coast Guard patrol boat is well along but needs several special fittings made.
What is next is still up in the air. It all comes down to what they think might be in demand.
On a much different topic, Al is an authority on small surface combatants, especially the PT boats. If you have been reading Boat Yard News this winter Brooklin Boat Yard made mention that they had a possible customer who wanted to rebuild PT-3. Well, this has become reality, and Al has been doing some consulting.
“In 1938-’39, when the Navy had the plywood derby,” explained Al, “they wanted to develop a motorboat. They had a competition for it and one of the specifications was for a boat that could be carried aboard a larger vessel, so it was more of a scout than anything. George Crouch made a specific design very typical of the 30s, which had a turtle back deck on it. The first two were built by Miami Shipbuilding and three and four were built by Fisher Boatworks in Detroit. They were never put into service. The Navy did not use them, so they lend-leased them to the Royal Navy who in turn gave them to the Royal Canadian Air Force and they served as crash boats. Post war, PT-3 was bought and made into a yacht. She has been sitting in two boat yards for decades and she is all rotten. Eric [Blake of Brooklin Boat Yard] went down late May, and they 3D scanned the whole boat. They discovered a lot of the framing is aluminum and it turns out that the framing is in good shape. The wood, I think he described it as sawdust. She is missing planks, you know pretty nasty. They are making a cradle for it right now and they are going to haul her up here. So, I am looking forward to that.”
The first four experimental boats were all the same design by George Crouch. Al continued, “Five and six were designed by Sparkman & Stephens, but built by Higgins. Higgins did not like them. They weren’t a pretty boat to begin with, and they were narrow with a heavy skeg. Five went to Canada and six went to the Royal Navy as a motor gun boat. Higgins built his own design which became six-prime, and that had the same general lines as the 78-footer. PT-7 and 8, one was aluminum, and one was wood, were similar to the 59-footer except they were 81-footers. PT-8 still exists, the aluminum one. PT-7 again went to the RCAF and then PT-9, Elco had British powerboat build. She was a motor torpedo boat based on their 70-foot PV, private venture boat. PT-9 came over here and Elco developed the 70-footers based on her. She ended up in Canada as a patrol boat. So, there were basically nine. Then there was 69, which Huckins built and 70, which Higgins built. PT-69 was a 72-footer and PT-70 was a 76-footer somewhat similar to the 78-footers. She ended up as a patrol boat in the US Navy.
Custom Composites – Bath, ME
One project on the shop floor that was nearly complete was on a 1984 Formula 232, which had gone aground and had a large hole chewed along her centerline. Nat Hassett said, “Maybe about 2 ½-feet. It looked like it got caught on the center of the bow and as the tide went up and down it kind of smashed the rest of the boat. There were numerous impacts on the rest of the bottom of the boat, which basically caused mushroom fractures throughout the entire bottom. So, it looked like a small fracture at the top, but as we started to grind into it, it had a lot more damage. We put probably a good 20-foot patch down the whole centerline, basically redid the whole centerline. That was structural and then we put a couple layers of finish glass to tie that together. Then we body worked it and painted it.”
She was now ready to go to Stetson & Pinkham in Waldoboro, who was going to install a new outdrive and engine. Once that is complete, she will be coming back to have her swim platform installed.
The owner, who has a summer home out on North Haven, thought they were going to sea trial it, but that was going to be done by Stetson & Pinkham. However, the owner told them that they can launch her at Rockland and deliver it to him on North Haven.
What really keeps them busy is building pilothouses for The Hinckley Company. Presently, they are working on a pilothouse for the 43. This is a three-piece assembly. Nat said, “All vacuum infused. We will do a wet lay after we spray it with gelcoat, just to hold the gelcoat in place, then laminate it and infuse it. Then we bond the liner and rooftop and then bond this assembly to the pilothouse.
Upstairs they have four marine tables for Weather’s End. They are six-foot diameter round marine tables.
They also have got a couple of sets of toerails to do. These are made to look like teak.
They were also getting ready to do some work for a start-up dinghy company, but that is all they were allowed to say.
An interesting project was building the davits for the 56-foot sailboat under construction at Brooklin Boat Yard in Brooklin. Nat explained, “Those davits are two-piece, but no mould, all hand fabricated. That was definitely very custom. A little different but it worked out good. The tolerance was like a millimeter all the way around and not being molded it is hard to get it that close. They fit in perfectly and looked great.”
Flowers Boat Works – Walpole, ME
In the main shop they have a Flowers 38, which is being finished out as a sportfisherman for a customer from Gloucester, MA. This boat has nice accommodations, which includes an island queen berth and head with separate shower. Up in the shelter is a full-galley with a kegerator and an L-shaped settee. She is powered with a 13-liter 800-hp Scania. She is going to be launched soon.
A Wayne Beal 32 is also in the shop. This is Jeremy Beal’s former MARIA’S NIGHTMARE II, which is now being transformed into a sportfish boat for a customer from Connecticut. She is being powered with a QSB Cummins. This owner also purchased a 16-foot skiff from Jeremy. They have finished her out and installed a 60-hp Suzuki outboard.
A Flowers 36 is in for some general maintenance, which included engine work and installing rails, a generator and air conditioning.
In the lower shop is a Flowers 43, which is near completion, but the owner has health issues, and she is for sale. Several people are looking at her, but no one as yet has signed on the dotted line. David Flowers said, “She is quite far along. She has a massive walk-in master stateroom and there are two heads. So, you go down forward, it has got a mid-level galley, step down forward, it has a guest head and then you go into the master stateroom, and it has got a huge head with walk-in shower, really nice layout. Kind of a custom console. It is designed to be an all-black touchscreen steering station. Outside of that, decks are in, engine is in, a 16 liter 900 hp Scania with a 12-kW generator. It has got a Quick Gyro, the big one. Again, quite far along, but still, somebody could step in and make it their own boat. It was going to be just an L-shaped settee and a couch area that slid out into another berth in the shelter. With the mid-level galley, it kind of changes that. You can’t really do port seating, so we were going to do a bigger bench seat.”
They are just trying to finish up the current projects as well as fishermen that need something repaired quickly. David said that he is still behind, mostly due to a lack of crew, which is most everyone’s problem. Fortunately, most customers understand.
John’s Bay Boat Co. – South Bristol
This winter was busy with a new 34 under construction and SARI ANN I, a 40-footer built by them in 1998 back for a major rehab. Peter Kass, owner of John’s Bay, has turned over the repair work to Andy Dickens and Jeff Hanley.
SARI ANN, I arrived in early December and was hauled up into the shop. Jeff said, “We had to do a cosmetic overhaul and some structural work to the wash rail. We took the engine out and had the engine prettied up by Dennis’ Welding on Beals Island. They did an A1 job, everything looks great. We had it running yesterday, starting right up like it had never been out of the boat. We then cleaned up the engine room and put in new paint. We installed a head, and that was a little bit of a challenge, just figuring out where to put tanks, the best place to have seacocks and planning for the future. We removed a Reflex stove and had to patch the hole we made getting it out through the rooftop.”
They did use a little red lead in the engine room, but mostly they used a primer called PenRust. Jeff added that they have been using it for years and said that it smells horrible, but it is a great product. He said that it hardens up so you can sand and paint over it.
Jeremiah Garland was brought in to do the wiring. Jeff said, “He prettied up the wiring. Chased a lot of dead ends, put in an inverter charger, shore power, new batteries, new battery wiring, and just made sure everything works. I hate having wires that don’t go anywhere. Hoses that don’t go anywhere, just get them out of there.”
The former owner, trying to remove the engine, did not realize the back of the house was made to come apart. He had cut up the back of the house and the deck over the gear. Jeff explained, “It went back together well. We did put a bigger hatch, 24 x 24, so the gear can come out behind rather than going ahead.”
Then there was a lot of varnish and paint work. This included interior and exterior and redoing the decks and the platform.
“You just have to know where to stop,” said Jeff. “You can go on forever with these projects, but you have got to think timeline. We thought of a time when we wanted to finish this up and not ruin somebody’s summer, so she is coming back next winter for a little more work.”
Next winter’s work on SARI ANN I will include repairs to the worm shoe, some bottom work and enclosed the head and add a sink.
The new boat under construction is a 34-foot lobster yacht, which is getting close to being done. It is now down to the details, which is twenty percent of the build, but takes the most time. The electrician was in working on the wiring, she needed to be prepped for paint, the windows needed to be installed and then paint and varnish. It is thought she will go over early summer.
Peter said last year that the next boat would be a 34 for himself. However, Jeff thought that he might go lobstering all summer and then start on her when he stops fishing and who can blame him.
Outside was a 22-foot bass boat built a ways back by John’s Bay. She is getting her annual maintenance, which was mostly paint.
This will be followed by a number of regular customers. SHARON ROSEANN of Rye, NH is coming in for her regular maintenance and she will be followed by RESOLUTE of Stonington. Andy and Jeff have a full schedule ahead of them this summer just on regular maintenance customers. They also have got a couple of irons in the fire for other pretty good sized winter projects.
Sargent Custom Boats – Milbridge, ME
In the main shop they have a Calvin Beal 36 being finished out as a sportfisherman for a customer from Brooklyn, New York. For accommodations she has a berth, head with shower, utility room and up in the shelter is the galley to starboard with a port side berth. She has a few amenities; one is a flat-screen TV that comes out of the bulkhead. She also sports a bow thruster, two trolling motors and two on-deck fish boxes. She will be powered with a 6.7 550-hp FPT diesel. They were wiring and finishing the details. She is scheduled to be over early summer.
In the next bay is a Dixon 42 from Prospect Harbor. She is having some interior accommodations added, which includes shelving and storage, two lobster tanks under the platform, new hatches, re-gel coat the topsides, rewire and a new rubber floor for the platform. She was also scheduled to be out the door early this summer.
Up next is a Calvin Beal 34, which will be finished off as a sportfisherman for a customer from Martha’s Vineyard, MA. This will be followed by two lobster boats, one an Osmond 47 going to Stonington and an RP-41 heading to Harpswell.
