This is a Wesmac 46 being finished out as a walkaround sportfisherman by Oceanville Boatworks in Sunrise, Stonington.
This is the Concordia 28 WIND SONG having her deck replaced at Artisan Boatworks in Rockport.
Artisan Boat Works, Rockport, ME
The big project this summer is on the Concordia 28 WIND SONG, which was the first boat built under the Concordia name. She was designed by Wilder Harris and built by Pierce & Kilburn of Fairhaven, Massachusetts in 1937. Her original name was SHAWNEE II. A number of years ago her hull was redone by Ballentine’s Boat Shop of Cataumet on Cape Cod. This included replacing the backbone, floors, and a number of the planks. She is now having her deck, which was originally iron fastened, redone. They have removed the deck and cabin and started to replace the deck beams. This project will take them through the summer to complete.
They have just completed a pair of topmasts for the passenger schooner LADONA, which was replacing her entire rig this year. LADONA is one of the passenger schooners sailing out of Rockland. She was designed by William Hand and built by Hodgdon Brothers of East Boothbay in 1922 for Homer Loring. She was named for USS LADONA, which Homer’s father served on during the Civil War. She had been captured as a blockade runner in Ossawbaw Sound, South Carolina by the USS UNADILLA on 4 August 1862 and after being condemned by a prize court she was purchased by the U. S. Navy on 20 September 1862. She would be commissioned as USS LADONA at Philadelphia three months later. USS LADONA worked the blockade of southern ports until the end of the war when she was decommissioned and auctioned off. The schooner LADONA served as a patrol boat out of New York in World War II. Following the war, she was sold and became a dragger out of Stonington, CT, and renamed JANE DORE. In 1971 she was renamed NATHANIEL BOWDITCH and used as a sail training vessel. She would later find her way into the Camden windjammer fleet.
Last winter the big project was on the Concordia FEATHER. They replaced all the frames from the main bulkhead at the front of the cockpit all the way to the stern. The new frames were laminated. They also replaced the fuel tank placing it under the cockpit. The fuel tank had been up under one of the seats in the cockpit meaning there was no access to the inside of the bilge. They reconfigured the cockpit so that the two forward lockers allows access down into the hull and to the back of the engine.
Their brokerage has been doing very well. They sold a number of boats this spring and more listings have been coming in. One interesting listing is the Camden passenger schooner MARY DAY. She was designed by Capt. Havilah Hawkins and named after his wife. She was built at the Harvey Gamage yard in South Bristol and launched there on 20 January 1962. She was totally rebuilt in 1999/2000.
Another interesting listing is a Shelter Island 38, which are built by CH (Coecles Harbor) Marine of Shelter Island. Back in the 1990s Billy Joel made constant visits to a number of the Maine boatbuilders and had a couple of their boats, namely an Ellis and a Wilbur. He was the inspiration for the 38, which was designed by Doug Zurn of Marblehead, MA.
Since I love classic wooden boats how about NELLIE, a 1902 Herreshoff cutter; HESPER, a 2004 Luke Powell pilot cutter built in England; CANDACE III, a 1940 Elco cruisette; HURRICANE, a 1939 Concordia motorsailer; or JOKER, a 1903 Herreshoff Buzzard’s Bay 31 in need of a total rebuild.
On the service side they were just finishing up getting all their storage boats commissioned and launched.
John Williams Boat Co., Hall’s Quarry, ME
The really big news here is that John ‘Jock’ Williams, after 53 years of owning the yard, has sold to a Mount Desert Island summer resident, who a couple of years ago had a boat built here. Jaime Weir, general manager, said, “Jock decided it was time to pass it along to somebody who will keep the legacy moving forward. The new owner is very much interested in upgrading the facility, building boats, and keeping the service and brokerage strong. We haven’t been to a boat show now since the Pandemic. We are going to go to the Maine Boats Homes & Harbors Boat Show in Rockland, and we will be bringing the new owner’s 28. I don’t know if we will do Newport, but we might walk the show this year and check it out.
“I think the new owner wants to upgrade the facilities,” continued Jaime. “He would like to have more on-site storage because we have seven off-site buildings around Mount Desert Island so consolidate our storage down here. We have 10 acres here and ¼-mile of shoreline, so we are going to utilize some of the 10 acres an put up more heated storage. Also, we want to upgrade our production facilities a little bit: paint bay and fiberglass shop. It will be a three to five-year plan. So, it is pretty exciting.”
The new owner is in manufacturing, so he realizes what is needed to make this work. He met the crew and they and had a great lunch meeting. Jaime added, “He is very excited. The crew is very excited. So, all extremely positive.”
Jaime will remain the general manager; Lyndsy Clough the operations manager; Will Ratcliff, service manager; and Doug Foster, yard manager.
Jock returned from Hawaii mid-June, and he is happy with the transition. It is also thought that he is putting together a book.
Over the winter there were two major jobs. The first was a Stanley 36, built in 2007, which got new owners in the fall of 2024. They are doing a three-stage rebuild and this was her second round in the shop. She received new seating in the cockpit, teak weather deck, self-deploying anchor on the bow and all new electronics. Next season she will be back to have her interior modified. The thought at this time is more counter space, maybe a stall shower and a new refrigeration system.
The other major project was on an Ellis 36 for a customer from Massachusetts. Her owners wanted to replace the cockpit platform and shorten the pilothouse by two feet. With the platform out they also replaced the fuel, water and holding tanks, new plumbing, and new systems. While they were shortening the house they replaced all the windows. then they Awlgripped her from the waterline up. She should be going back in the water about 1 August, allowing her owners about six weeks on the water before she returns to have her interior redone.
As the Fourth of July approaches they have been kept very busy with the 250 or so storage customers, of which 40 of them are wooden. With the Stanley 36 and the Ellis 36 returning next fall for more work and they would also like to add a new boat. When asked if this would be a Stanley design or someone else’s, Jamie said, “We have talked about it. Ideally keep it a Stanley, but we are happy to do whatever people are looking for. We have done a couple designs with Doug Zurn, and we’d also consider finishing up someone else’s hull.”
Lyman-Morse Partners with Colby College to Manage Port Clyde Moorings
We’re excited to share the news that Lyman-Morse has partnered with Colby College to relaunch a managed mooring field in Port Clyde Harbor. The collaboration supports Colby’s growing investment in Port Clyde and expands a safe, quality anchorage for visiting boaters in one of Maine’s most storied working harbors.
The moorings give visiting sailors and cruisers a convenient, well-managed option for securing an overnight spot for their vessel in one of the most scenic harbors on the Eastern Seaboard. Fuel, restrooms and showers, and Wi-Fi will be available to mooring customers. Dockage is also available on a short-term basis for those visiting town. Availability, reservations, and seasonal details are available online at Dockwa.com under Port Clyde Moorings by Lyman-Morse.
Port Clyde is more than a destination for boaters. It is one of Maine’s most enduring working waterfront communities. For generations, the harbor has been home to commercial fishermen, local businesses, and families whose lives are closely tied to the sea. As the village looks toward its next chapter following the loss of the historic Port Clyde General Store in 2023, new investments by community-minded organizations are helping strengthen the harbor’s role as both an economic engine and a gathering place for residents and visitors alike.
Colby College has made a remarkable commitment to Port Clyde recently, purchasing several downtown properties including the former general store site, which was lost to fire in 2023, to establish its new Center for Resilience and Economic Impact. The center is designed as an interdisciplinary hub where scientists, economists, and policymakers can work alongside the people of Maine to address the challenges facing coastal and rural communities: changing fisheries, severe weather, economic uncertainty, and more. The Seaside Inn will house student researchers who will live and work alongside the community, and the college’s Island Campus on nearby Allen and Benner Islands has long used Port Clyde as its launch point.
On the former general store site, Colby will construct a new building housing a street-level restaurant, community spaces, and offices for the center. The Barn and Squid Ink Coffee will continue to operate, and the Seaside Inn will remain a place for people to stay, work, and be part of village life.
Oceanville Boat Works, Sunrise, Stonington, ME
Having just left was a 45-foot Hustler, a crab and conch fishing boat from Middlesex, Virginia. She came up to have new fuel tanks installed. The platform was removed from mid-way to the transom and a horseshoe-shaped fuel tank, of about 750-gallons, was put in. A new composite deck was put down and then they re-gelcoated under the waist. They also added new hatches and did some other mechanical things. She was down to Billing’s Diesel & Marine getting more mechanical work done and then would be going over toward the first of July. The trip home will take them about 43 hours and about 800 gallons to complete.
They are now laying up the roof top for the Wesmac 46 they have under construction in her place. They had the jigs in place and were getting to layup the first side. They will then flip it over and lay up the other side.
The Wesmac 46 is being finished off as a walk-around sportfisherman for a customer from New Jersey. Most of the centre console structure is up, including the windshield, and they are now doing a lot of Awl-fair. Awl-fair is high-end epoxy filler for fairing uneven surfaces. They have been pleased with the product, finding it easy to work with, but it is still a lot of board standing. In the back of the shelter there are two cylindrical air boxes so that there are no air restrictions to the engine (1,550-hp MAN). Dwight Staples said, “Our goal is 30 knots cruise. We should be right in that area. Everything is light, the lightest composite materials we can use, but without sacrificing integrity.”
The trunk of the console has a nice flat spot for a hatch. Then once the top is done, she will go on and they will strike their window lines and make the window patterns for the glass company and send them out to be made. These will not be your standard-shaped windows. They have camber on the top and bottom combined with the crown of the trunk and the big radiuses of the outboard corners. The aft window in the shelter is tear dropped. Up in the bow there will be a place for stainless steel trays for bait and ice. This was all built with high-R-value foam.
Tim Staples has been working on patterns for the custom toe rails, which will be painted faux teak. The toe rails and possibly the stern cover of the livewell and possibly the steering station inside might all be faux teak.
In the back of the shelter there will be a door off-centre due to the green stick in the centre. On the starboard side of the transom there will be a steering station. There will also be tackle and storage space as well as seating on the portside.
Down forward there will be bunks forward and a head with shower to starboard. The galley will be up in the shelter along with some seating. They hope to have this one completed next spring.
In the back of the shop, they are finishing off a Calvin Beal 16 for a customer from Boothbay Harbor. They built this customer a Calvin Beal 44 and the owner wants her to look just like the big boat. She will be painted in Whisper Gray hull with Matterhorn White on the inside. She has side seats in the stern making it easy to tiller steer and an aluminum post with a pedestal for his electronics. The fuel tank, about 25-gallons, will be located in the bow.
They already have an order for another boat. She will be an Osmond 50 lobster boat with a four-foot extension for a local fisherman.
Otis Enterprises, Searsport
The main project this winter was on SAND PIPER, a Coronardo 35 from the early 1970s. She was in to be repowered. She had a Westerbeke 35E and this was going to be replaced with a Westerbeke 35D. There were only minor differences, which meant that the bell housing and rear engine mounts needed to come off. The engine is out and the new one is getting ready to go back in.
Another project this winter was on a Maineway 35 with a transmission issue. They wanted to remove it, but to do so meant disrupting all the systems. They were able to get the engine partially out, which given them enough room to get underneath and remove all the bits and pieces, install a new plate and put her back together.
FIRST TEAM was in with a major engine (420-hp Sisu) problem. While running her last year she dropped a valve seat. Travis determined that this was due to excessive testosterone and a reduction in self-control. This damaged the head and took out a piston and liner. Once the parts arrived from Finland Travis had her back together in time for the Bass Harbor Lobster Boat Races.
Travis is currently refurbishing and polishing the mould for a 21-footer, which should be finished sometime this year.
