This Hinckley sailboat is in for her annual maintenance at Finestkind Boat Yard in Harpswell.
This is the 47-foot Downeast cruiser under construction at Brooklin Boat Yard. Last month it was pretty much a bare hull.
Edgecomb Boat Works, Edgecomb, ME
If you have run down to Boothbay Harbor recently, I am sure you have noticed a major change at this yard. Last year the old farmhouse was razed and then when spring arrived the barn, which also housed the stockroom, break room and an office came down the last week of May. Immediately they started excavating for a foundation. When the concrete work was completed, the building was started. The building is 60 x 96 feet with a shop area of 60 x 80 feet. Half of the main shop space is for heated indoor storage, and the other side is workspace. Previously they were using a building on Southport Island and another building in the industrial park. They still needed to utilize them again this winter as there are more customers looking for heated storage than there is available space.
There is now a nice greeting area for customers, with the owner’s office up above. The storage room on the first level is for the regularly used items. For additional storage, that is on the second level, which has a large access so pallets can be placed up there.
Moves like this are not easy. Everything in the stockroom needed to be placed in a container, but before that could be done, they needed to go through and toss what was never going to be needed. Mitch Geary, owner of the yard explained, “It’s a challenge, but it was a great time to be like ‘we have handled this ten times, and it has got a quarter of an inch of dust on it, let’s throw it away.’ When we moved out, we did throw some stuff out, the low hanging fruit. We didn’t want to be hasty and throw stuff away we might need, but we are taking the time now to sort it out, so everything has its place. You know when you go to grab it, it is there. It is silly to hold up a job for a bracket zinc and not be able to get the boat out the door that day.”
They lived out of a 40-foot shipping container all summer and Mitch’s office was a 7 x 8-foot shipping container. He did say that this was for sale if anyone was interested.
They were presently working on several center console boats, getting them ready for the upcoming season. When they are completed, they will swap them out with others in the storage sheds needing their regular annual maintenance. The problem, a good one to have, they acquired an additional 30 storage customers, so they have a lot to do before May arrives.
Mitch said that there were no major jobs, but lots of paint and varnish. There was a Regulator coming in that needed some electrical and fiberglass work. This was a new customer, and he will be having them go through the boat in stages over the next two or three years. Next year they will remove the tower and outboard bracket and paint them. There is also a Jarvis Newman 32 coming in to have her deck painted.
There are still three bays in the metal building, which was next to the barn. These are used for paint and varnish as well as repairs.
Most yards like doing annual maintenance with an occasional slightly bigger project here and there. Big projects can get out of hand and that means that you might not be able to take care of the other customers the way they needed to be taken care of. Mitch said he wants 50 to 60 boats all ready for the water when spring arrives. If you have less, you are behind the eight ball and you will have a tough time catching up.
Finestkind Boatyard, Harspwell, ME
Just in was a Stanley 44 lobster boat, which had miscalculated the depth of water and ended up stuck on a ledge off Harpswell. She was towed in and hauled out just before Christmas. Mark Hubbard, owner of the yard, said “Of course, at the absolute worst possible time when it was the coldest outside. We couldn’t put the boat inside because I didn’t have any room. So, we tented it so we could get it to dry out and glass it.”
About 25 percent of the keel was damaged. It was fortunate that her original owner had placed a 3/8-inch x 6-inch-wide piece of stainless steel the entire length of the keel. This probably saved the boat from sinking. However, straightening it out took more than two and a half hours to do. Once the stainless-steel piece had been taken off it was time to grind into the numerous layers of damaged fiberglass. As she was an older boat, likely the 1980s, she was laid up heavy, which her original owner would brag about. He even said that the hull alone contained 15 drums of resin. They ground until all the fractures had been removed. Then they began glassing in the layers of glass. They worked through the week between Christmas and New Years and just after the New Year she was back in the water and ready to go.
Next, they have a Bruno 42 coming in for a new fuel tank, replacing part of the deck and paint. The deck is plywood and has been replaced once before. It really does not need to be replaced, but cutting into it is the only way they can get to the fuel tanks. The plastic fuel tank was repaired previously when the top weld let go. Unfortunately, that did not hold, necessitating its replacement.
In one bay they have a 30-foot double-ended sailboat, which was purchased last year by a new owner. The previous owner purchased her as a kit, and he did most of the interior work. The yard has modified some of this but also making sure that the systems are all good as the new owner would like to cross the Atlantic in her. They had the bottom blasted and have put on a barrier coat and will now repaint the hull and trunk house. They have also replaced the original head with a composting one and removed the kerosene stove and replaced it with a propane one.
Last year they replaced the engine in the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s research vessel. This year she is back to repair the transom.
They have two of the three Finestkind Boats, which charter out of Ogunquit, in for their annual maintenance. In the past they have done some extensive work on them, but this year it should be just normal work.
Mark is hoping that he can get back to work on his Cherubini 44. Like the cordwainer whose children have no shoes, Mark has not had the time to finish this project. He also would like to finish up the Hodgdon 21, and the Freddy Lenfesty built CARRIE & TAMMY, which was one of the fastest lobster boats in the mid-1970s. He is planning to put a 6-cylinder in her and bring her back out racing.
Handy Boat, Falmouth, ME
There is a lot going on here. They are re-powering a 26-foot Crosby powerboat. They have removed a 50-hp Westerbeke and replaced it with a 60 hp Beta. The boat is 12 years old and thus everything is in pretty good shape so the repower should go smoothly.
An Alden 44 sailboat is having all her systems gone through.
A Tartan 35 is having her 3 GM removed and replaced with a Beta 30. They are also doing her general maintenance, which will include system work and varnish.
An older Sabre 36 powerboat is in to have all the hoses replaced.
A J-28 came in with a rudder issue, wet core. She was foam cored with a composite stock, and she hit something on the lower front edge, which allowed some water to get in.
A Cabo Rico 34 is in to have all her seacocks replaced, a new coolant pump, engine maintenance, rebedding the port lights and a galley upgrade.
A Padebco 23 was repowered last year with a new outboard. This year she is back to have the cowlings custom painted with new decals.
The work scow has had her crane totally rebuilt. This meant upgrading the deck and doing a complete paint job.
A fiberglass Lyman is in for a new transom. The engine has been removed, and they have recored the transom and then re-glassed it.
Once all these boats are done, they will bring in several others so as to get as much of their work done before spring. They said that they will turn the shop over five or six times before April arrives.
They store about 160 boats, which means they will be very busy getting them all done before the upcoming season arrives.
Lyman Morse Fabrication, Rockland, ME
On order, and soon to be under construction, are three 33-foot electric catamarans carrying 32 passengers. They will be powered with twin 120-hp electric outboards. These boats are being built for MEVA (Merrimac Valley Transit). MEVA runs buses all around the valley including the towns of Andover, Bradford, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Merrimac, Methuen, Newbury, Newburyport, Plaistow, and Salisbury. They feel that in the summer when the roads are extremely busy, some may opt to ride a ferry up or down the Merrimac River. This is not a new concept, many years ago there were water taxis on the river. They are hoping to deliver the first one at the end of summer.
Last year they started building the 49-foot aluminum catamaran FIREFLY for Upstream Alliance of Annapolis, MD. She is all electric, but with a different power and battery system. She was supposed to be launched the end of last summer but got delayed due to some changes. She will be launched this spring.
During the fall they completed the Portland Harbor Master’s boat, which has been well received by the harbormasters.
On the floor they have a 38-foot landing craft for a lighthouse non-profit group from Michigan. She has about an 8,000-pound payload capacity on the foredeck for taking a tractor out to Thunderbay Island, just off of Alpena. She is scheduled to be delivered this spring.
There is a 25-foot police/rescue boat being built for Scarborough.
Also, there is a 28-foot landing craft heading over to Nova Scotia.
Then they are getting ready to start a 32-foot police boat for Portland and she will be followed by the three electric water taxis.
They have plenty of work, but the big problem is finding qualified aluminum MIG welders. With the future looking to be busy they need help. They are also going to open their own training school, which they hope will help.
All the new builds being delivered, coupled with the recent press, has gotten them a lot more inquiries through their website.
Northend Shipyard, Rockland, ME
It may look quiet at the yard, but under the two white temporary buildings and on board the two schooners in the water there is plenty going on.
The 58-foot two-masted schooner MISTRESS has been out of the water for two years undergoing a major restoration. She was rebuilt over 30 years ago but was in need of another one. They have done some reframing and replanking. The former owner removed the interior so they will be adding a new interior. It is hoped that the rebuild will be completed in a couple of years.
Under the other temporary building is the Canadian schooner AGNESS & DELL, which was built in 1945. She was stored in the water the last couple of years, but this year she was hauled up in November and put under cover. She will also be undergoing a rebuild.
The former Gloucester swordfishing schooner AMERICAN EAGLE is sitting at the dock and is getting some minor repair work done. They cut the main cabin top off and removed the nav-box. The top has been replaced, and they were getting ready to recaulk it. Then they will rebuild the ice box, upgrade plumbing, and then paint the main cabin and galley.
The schooner HERITAGE’s donkey engine has been removed from the boat and is getting repaired. Other than that, they have been brightening up the cabins, but luckily there is nothing major to do this winter.
Up on the hard next under cover by the office is CORSAIR, which was designed by Howard Chappelle as a scaled down fishing schooner and featured in an issue of Mechanics Illustrated in the 1940s. They have the fiberglass deck down and the ceiling in. Unfortunately, they can only work on her between the big schooner work, so it may be a while before she hits the water.
Samples Shipyard, Boothbay Harbor, ME
Up on the main railway is the replica of the warship NIAGARA, from the War of 1812. They have removed her twin 3208 Caterpillar Diesels and replaced them with a pair of C-7s. They have done some topside planking, bow, and stern; bottom planking at the bow, some stem, knight head, and frame repairs too. She will be going back over in April so she can leave on 1 June so as to get back up to her home port on Lake Erie at the Erie Maritime Museum.
Other work at the yard is some minor repair work on several of the wooden boats they store.
Workers have returned from Moosehead Lake where they had been working on KATAHDIN when the weather started to turn cold. They were replacing about 80 feet of the woodwork on the starboard house side. They replaced a number of stanchions, framing for the house sides and new pine siding, covering boards, rub rails and have laminated new cap rails on the first deck. To accomplish this, they had to hang steel brackets off the side with staging all covered by a bubble of shrink-wrap. About mid-March they are planning to return to complete this phase of the project, which they figure will take about eight weeks to complete.
