Just launched MARTHA MAY, Calvin Beal 38 powered with a 425-hp FPT diesel, finished by Friendship Boat Works in Friendship. See more info below.
MAYA ELIZABETH, a Duffy 35, was repowered with a C7 Caterpillar, new Northern Lights generator, AC/heat units and wiring upgrades. She will be going over in early June.
In Chip Johnson’s shop in Harpswell is FIVE STARS [Calvin 42], which was in to be repowered and have some other minor repairs done before the lobster season hits.
Atlantic Boat, Brooklin
The Duffy 35 cruiser MAYA ELIZABETH has been repowered with a C-7 Caterpillar. She also received a new Northern Lights generator, AC/heat units and upgrades to some of her wiring. She was nearly complete and was scheduled to be launched the first week of June.
Next to her had been a LeComte sailboat, which was repowered with a 30-hp Beta and had her interior replaced over the last year. The interior consisted of redoing the entire center of the boat. In the galley they replaced the refrigerator and freezer. They also rewired and added a new charging system from Victron. She is already back in the water and in her homeport on Long Island, Oyster Bay, New York.
In the corner was about a 40-foot wooden sailboat, all teak planks, which had been abandoned. Fortunately, there are a couple of people interested in purchasing her.
In a separate shop is a Duffy 26, which has had an outboard bracket added to her stern making her a 29. On the bracket they are getting ready to hang twin 150-hp Suzuki outboards. This boat started as a prototype and then they were going to use it as a work boat, but this owner from Portland came in and made an offer several years ago.
They did have a launch under construction for a Connecticut customer, but they have backed out. They had ordered three and they took the first two but discovered they did not have a need for a third one. This one is a water taxi, so she has a canopy and there are a couple of people looking at purchasing her.
Attention is now on the storage customers of which there are over one hundred of.
Work is already being scheduled for the winter. They have a couple of repowers and one of these is one a BHM 34 and the other one is a 37.
Friendship Boat Works, Friendship
Just launched: a Calvin Beal 34 hull was sent from SW Boatworks in Lamoine to the yard to be finished off as a pleasure/dive boat for a customer from New Hampshire. She is powered with a 425-hp FPT. Down below she has a full berth forward, storage and head. She also sports a 300-gallon fuel tank, 20-gallon fresh water tank, inside and rear steering stations, live-well, outside shower with hot and cold running water, electric pot hauler with davit, bow thruster, two sliding windows in the back, two windows open in the front and sliders on each corner of the boat, two wipers, shore power, inverter, four batteries and air conditioning. The owner made his own cabinets and installed them. They had yet to do sea trials, but that would come the next day, and they were hoping for more than 22 knots.
Still in the shop is an older lobster boat, which has been on the bottom twice and has balsa core issue in the house and trunk cabin. All the affected areas were removed and were replaced with plywood and covered in fiberglass. They also converted the standard house into a split wheelhouse and raised the height of the house to 6-feet 4-inches.
Next, they have several repair jobs and they have been renting out one of their bays for a mechanic and he has them do all his fiberglass work.
In the yard they have a 21-footer, which fell off her trailer while going down the road and she is in need for some fiberglass work. This will not take too long to complete.
JB Boats (Jeremy Beal), Jonesport
This winter has not been as busy as ones in the past. They have had a few repair jobs, a couple of 36 kit boats and a couple of new 16 or 18s.
The lobster boat SPLIT S.E.C.O.N.D. from Vinalhaven was in for some minor cosmetic repairs.
A Wayne Beal 32 from Rhode Island came in and had her house lengthened 35-inches, added a hydraulic room, extended the V-berth and added some shelves down below, put in a bow thruster, built a seat on the engine box and then cut out a tuna door. She has already gone back to her homeport.
Another repair job was on a Calvin Beal 36 lobster boat from Stonington. They were just going to freshen her up with new paint and put her fuel tanks under the platform. Unfortunately, they discovered that the bulkheads had come loose. They were now waiting on the insurance company to see what they wanted to do. The owner had planned on selling this boat and getting a Wayne Beal 46, but that is on hold.
Another repair job was on a Mitchell Cove 37. She got new gaskets under her hatches and then they sanded her down for paint and gelcoat.
As for the 16s, they lengthened one to an 18 and she went to Harpswell and they built two of the 16s, one of which went to Boothbay Harbor.
One of the 36 kits went to A. R. Kennedy in Steuben, and she is being finished off as a lobster boat. Another is in the process of being laid up and she is heading to Chip Johnson’s shop. They then have a 34 to lay up.
C. W. Johnson Boat, Harpswell
Chip Johnson’s lobster boat FIVE STARS (Calvin Beal 42) is in the shop. Chip said, “It turns out Long Island (lobster boat race) was a little hard on the (Mack) V8 last year. It was slowing down at the end of the course, and I wonder what is that. I didn’t really think much of it after that. In the winter when it got really cold, I found I was missing a cylinder for a bit. I finally got the boat out and did a compression check and found a cylinder that was in question. Then the camera revealed some trouble. I wasn’t supposed to be in here, but I found that and I knew I was going to have to pull the engine. I have more V8s I could mess with, but trying to get a 42-foot boat over 40 mph is just not worth it.”
Chip loves Mack diesels and he decided to go back to his original six-cylinder, which works well in his boat. The eight-cylinder weighed in at 4,400 pounds, which is much more than the six-cylinder. He also liked the additional room he would have to work on the engine in the boat.
While the boat is in, Chip is also doing some minor repairs and preventive maintenance. One of his windows had come apart and that has been repaired. The trap rack was not drilled correctly, and he was in the process of fixing that.
Just before Chip’s boat came in a former warden’s boat, an Osmond 36, was in. Four years ago, she was repowered with a Volvo and soon after she developed some issues. The engine mounts failed, the shaft snapped and a couple other minor issues developed. They have all been corrected and he is back in the water lobstering.
On the other side of the shop is Chip’s son boat. She had sunk at her mooring years ago and then was hauled and sat in the former owner’s yard for a number of years and then she got moved to another location and sat there for a lot of years. Over the years water got in the bilge and that came right up over the platform at times and flowed out the scuppers. There were even trees growing up in her. Despite being a cored boat, they did not find any issues with the core. The trunk cabin was good, as well as the forward floor, but everything else was removed and rebuilt. He put a new platform in with fuel tanks under it. He then removed the old engine and replaced it with another that was kicking around the shop. The skeg was missing and that has been replaced. When she is done, he will be using her as a tuna boat until he can get his lobster license, which he is working on.
Maine Yacht Center, Portland
One interesting project this winter was on a Class 40 racing sailboat. A few years ago, the owner was doing a major single-handed round-the world race when he was dismasted in the Southern Atlantic Ocean forcing him to abandoned the boat when rescued. He is now back and looking to do another race next year. They removed his keel and rudder this winter and then did a thorough inspection of the rig. The keel has just gone back in, and he should be ready to do his qualifier this coming winter.
Another project was on a 46-foot sailboat that had a pretty extensive refit done. They upgraded the refrigeration system, air conditioning, generators, lithium-ion batteries, solar panels, flat-screen televisions and then lots of paint. They also had Cumberland Ironworks come in and build an arch to hold the dinghy and the massive solar array. There are also flexible solar panels on the cabin top. The owner is planning to take his family on a around the world cruise.
A very interesting project was building two wooden bowsprits. They have never built wooden bowsprits, as normally, they build carbon fibre ones. One was on a Westsail 32 and the other on a 54-foot ketch. The one on the 54-foot ketch was about 12-feet long.
With the expansion going on next door they lost the storage space they leased, which stored about 50 boats. This expansion is where the former Burnham & Morrill factory stood. The new building is just to the east and is massive. It kind of looks like the stern of a giant ship. This building will house almost 3,000 people working on robotics for Northeast University.
They still store about 150 boats and all of them needed some degree of work before they could be launched for the upcoming season.
Wayne Rich, Bernard
Wayne was brought up in the boatbuilding world, but he chose lobstering for making a paycheck. However, he loves spending his winters in a boat shop working on wooden boats. He would work for his Uncle Robert ‘Chummy Rich’ at Bass Harbor Boat and more recently for Jamie Thurlow at Rich’s Boat Yard in West Tremont.
Presently in the shop, he has a 1958 Robert Rich built boat, which was Robert’s personal boat. Wayne explained, “It is a different design. From what I have heard from Chummy the moulds came from Bing Sargent at Southwest Harbor Boat, and they were for an open military launch of some type. She is lapstrake with double planked on bottom. This is the only one I’ve seen like it. Bobby worked or helped build military boats during World War II. He may have done it at Hinckley. I don’t remember when the shop was started in Bernard. The good story about this one and there’s a lot of stories, but Bobby started this in Cliff’s garage which was down at Bass Harbor Boat Shop. Cliff couldn’t walk around because it was up against the wall, so he took a hand saw and took two feet off, as he was just beginning to build it, which I guess upset Bobby quite bad. So, now it is 27 and it should have been a 29.”
Glenn Crawford of C & C Machine in Ellsworth owned her for about 30 years, but he had not used her for a number of years. She then sat out behind the buildings in a tarp shed with wet ground, which is probably what saved her. Wayne was looking for a project and they made a deal, which pleased Glenn as he wanted to see her saved.
She is a nice little pocket cruiser with two bunks, a sink, little ice box and a head down forward. She is powered with a 318 Chrysler, but Wayne is worried a bit as he is hearing a ticking sound when he rolls her over. He has not found too many other issues. He has replaced the two ridge poles on the aft end of the house, replaced the coamings, tightened up the windows and then noticed that one of the transom planks was loose and he repaired that. Now, it is just cosmetics, lots of sanding and painting. With lobster season right at hand, she might not be finished this year, but definitely in the fall.
Wayne also had someone stop by that was looking to have their 21-foot war canoe repaired. She had been in a collision years ago and Chummy fiberglassed her. The fiberglass needs to be repaired, and a new set of guards put on.
Outside is the 26-foot C. M. RICH, which was built by Robert in 1963 or ’64 and named for his father, Clifton. She came off the same moulds as Wayne’s OASIS, formerly known as WIDE OPEN, which was built in 1953. He repaired some rotten wood on the roof, toe-rails and then did a lot of sanding and painting. The engine, a 292 Chevrolet, had an issue with the exhaust manifold where the water cooler riser hits, which had a leak. He took it a part, made a repair and is hoping that did the trick.
As for OASIS, she had not been in the water for the last five years. He said, “I just went up and started pushing on planks. That was still all originally iron and clench nails above the waterline, below the waterline I had refastened her. I brought it inside and on windy days, rainy days started to work on her. The transom had loose planks on the end. I threw some screws in, and nothing hit. Then I pulled some planks off and the whole main frame was rotten; I mean just mush. So, I asked Chum, ‘What do you think I should do with it?’ He says, ‘take her out to the end of the road and give it away.’ I couldn’t do that. So, I got the sawzall out and I cut just the inside of the main frame. Cut the whole transom right off. I commenced replacing one piece at a time adding two feet, which now allows me to put whatever motor I want in and go racing. I knew what I wanted it to look like but how was I going to get it there? Just one piece at a time, filled in the puzzle. She is now in the water and we have gone for a few rides and the extension didn’t hurt her, I was afraid it might be a giant trim tab.”
Presently, she will be powered with a 350 Chevrolet Crusader, and she is nice and smooth. She is scheduled to be at the Boothbay Harbor Lobster Boat Races after a five-year absence, which will be great to see her again running and winning in the gas classes.
