By Sheila Dassatt
Every month I ponder how I want to write this article. Do I want to get down and serious or lighten things up a little because of all that is going on in this world. Well, things are really mounting up in the world right now and we all need to take life one day at a time, that’s for sure. Things are happening in the Middle East right now and we don’t know from one day to the next where it is all going to end up. At this point, we must simply keep the faith and try to keep moving forward.
With this being a boat-based publication, I thought it would be kind of fun to relate to life in a boat shop. I’m sure that we all have stories about life in the shops that they work in and it would also be fun to share some of these stories. If you have stories that you’d like to share, please send them along. I’d love to share your stories too and lighten up a little.
In 1982, after the collapse of the poultry industry in Belfast, I needed to go to work to help make ends meet. This was a little difficult because I also had two young children at the time. My family had an established boat shop that was founded in 1973 and could also use some extra help. You’re probably familiar with Holland’s Boat Shop, which was a family run business.I asked my brother, Glenn, if they could use some help in the shop and he said (with me being female and all), that if I could keep up the pace, he’d let me give it a try. I started right out in the lay-up shop, which is where the boats started their life’s journey. We waxed the molds, sprayed them up with gelcoat and then laminated the layers of resin and fiberglass in the molds. At that time, I worked with Willy, who also was willing to give me a working chance. Believe it or not, I really enjoyed working in the shop even though the work was hard. As time marched on, my sister-in-law Cathy came into the shop too. I think we probably drove Willy crazy!
It worked pretty well because we had our kids get off the school bus right there because our parent’s house was there too. They could get off the bus and go right up with Nana for their afternoon snack. It was really an awesome situation.
My Dad, Corliss, was also working in the shop at the time. Working with Dad was a real hoot! Dad was a real prankster and always made coming to work a little on the fun side. One time, he had a can of “phew” given to him for Christmas. They were finishing a 38 footer in the finish shop and he went over there with that can. He was spraying it in one of the thru hull openings, and they guys couldn’t understand where the hissing was coming from when they were hooking up the hydraulics. Then they got a whiff of the smell! It was out of the bag then, they knew it was Dad out there with that can! What a laugh that we got out of that one!
There was the time that we had a one-piece mold for a smaller boat. The first time that we pulled the boat out of the mold, we had a fella that we called “Bobby Bones” and that was why, he was very thin and agile. We had chains hooked onto it, lifting it up high to clear the mold with Bobby in the boat pulling the chain lift, the next thing we next thing we knew, it flipped over sideways and we were all waiting for Bobby to fall out. He didn’t! We didn’t dare look, but we did, and he was plastered in there with his dry laugh, and “deer in the headlight eyes.” Anyone else would’ve fallen out, but Bobby just glued himself to it. We will never forget that one!
Mentioning the chain falls, they came in pretty handy with the kids when they got out of hand. It was all in fun, but we would hook the chain hook onto their belt and heist them up. We told them that it was all discipline and for them to behave, but they loved every minute of it. They would get off the bus and come down to the shop carrying a small boom box that played cassettes at the time. We could hear them coming down to the shop with “We Built This City On Rock and Roll” over and over again. They also played a lot of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” which we told them to do just that. That was one of those times that we would heist them up on the chain falls. We didn’t realize how much fun we all really had as a family in the shop until they all grew up and went their own way.
As time went on, Mike joined the crew and it was a total family affair then. We actually got to know each other working in the boat shop. This was all during the 80’s. Mom was the task master for sure. She would come down to the shop in her moo moo, which she put on after she came home from cooking at the East Belfast school. She would remind us how much more time that we had to finish the boat that we were working on. Willy would toss the pull chains at her feet and tell her to get back up to the house……she got such a kick out of it! He could get away with teasing her like that and we would all laugh. I know that’s one of the reasons why she would come down.
Then there was the time that the Eastport vocational class came to the shop to see how it was all done. They came in a school bus and was there for the tour and explanations. We always looked forward to hosting them and teaching them as well. This particular time, Dad happened to see a pheasant under the apple trees in the yard. Dad being Dad, he went and grabbed his rifle and commenced to shoot the bird! They all asked what just happened and he told them that he had to get after one of the crew! Never dull!
I hope you have been able to enjoy some of these stories as much as I enjoyed writing down the memories. Sometimes we don’t know how good we have it until it is all a bunch of fun memories. In all honesty, that crew was always one big family, and the customers too.
