Tag Archives: Boat builder
Argentinian Yard Launches its First Newbuild Fishing Vessel
Built entirely at the De Angelis yard Nuevo Don Julio is a fresher trawler designed to operate from Caleta Paula port, in Santa Cruz province. The regional standards relating to coastal fishing vessels stipulate a maximum registered length of 12 metres, so that was a crucial factor of this venture from the outset, explained production manager Juan Cruz Rodríguez. ‘The primary requirement presented by our client was that the boat should have the largest storage capacity possible while remaining within the maximum allowed length,’ he said. The 99m3 fish room is considerably larger than would be expected in a vessel of this size. Nuevo Don Julio’s designers had to strike balances between length and internal volume by creating a special configuration of elements to ensure its stability. Photos >click to read< 19:25
Meet the next generation boatbuilder taking over the family business – Jaxen Doucette has been an entrepreneur since age nine
“I always wanted to do something with business and never, ever wanted to work for somebody else. I always wanted to do my own thing. And here we are.” Now, he runs the fibreglass boat-building business in Miminegash, P.E.I., with his family’s name over the door. Doucette’s Boat Building builds 45-foot fibreglass fishing boats and employs 12 people year-round, though they take an extended break in the summer due to the heat. The company usually has four boats on the go, Doucette said, and finishes one per month. The company was founded in 1990 by Jimmy Doucette, Jaxen’s grandfather. He took over earlier this year after the elder Doucette died. “He built six or seven of his own wooden boats and then they took a mold off the last wooden boat, which gives us our fibreglass boat.” Photos, >click to read< 10:39
Commercial Fisherman Leroy “Roy” Wilbur Cabana has passed away in Homer, Alaska,
Leroy “Roy” Wilbur Cabana passed away peacefully at his home in Homer, Alaska, surrounded by his family on Oct. 22, 2021, at 10:22 p.m. Even in his final moments he was still full of his quick wit and banter. Some of his final words were “turn it loose,” which was a tribute to his life as a commercial fisherman. Through his employment as a longshoreman, bus driver, body shop co-owner, professional hunter/trapper, or his later careers of a boat builder, catcher/processor, vessel owner, crabber and commercial fisherman, the legacy of his life is the fishing enterprise that he and his wife started for his children and grandchildren and future upcoming great grandchildren. >click to read< 21:20
A Perfect Pairing. A Q&A session with John Deere and Mike Blocher of North River Boats
North River Boats in Roseburg, Oregon is one of the largest heavy-gauge aluminum boat manufacturers in the United States with an estimated 10,000 vessels plying the water today. The company continues to diversify, adding the legendary Bristol Bay hull to its lineup. John Deere: What led to the building of this new commercial fishing vessel? Mike Blocher: We build heavy-gauge aluminum boats. During an International Workboat Show, we were approached to build a bay boat. Our general manager and I traveled to Bristol Bay and started looking at boats, talking with fishermen, and found out what worked and what did not. JD: What did you find out? MB: Bristol Bay is unlike any other commercial fishery,,, >click to read< 11:06
Greek traditional wooden boat builders a dwindling craft
Each beam of wood, each plank, has been felled, trimmed and shaped by one man alone, hauled and nailed into place using techniques handed down through generations, from father to son, uncle to nephew. But the current generation could be the last. The art of designing and building these vessels, done entirely by hand, is under threat. “Unfortunately, I see the profession slowly dying,” said Giorgos Kiassos, one of the last remaining 
boatbuilders on Samos, an eastern Aegean island that was once a major production center. “If something doesn’t change, there will come a time when there won’t be anyone left doing this type of job. And it’s a pity, a real pity,” Kiassos is working on two: a 45-foot pleasure craft and a 30-foot fishing boat. The boats are being made to order, with the bigger one costing around $70,000, and the smaller one around $35,000. >click to read< 11:41
Obituary: Commercial Fisherman Marvin Edward Tolonen in Sequim, Washington
Marvin Edward Tolonen, fisherman extraordinaire, boat builder, woodworker, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, passed away March 17, 2021, after a brave battle with mantle cell lymphoma. Previous to his marriage, Marvin served two years with the U.S. Army. In 1980, the family moved to Prunedale, California, but eventually moved back to Astoria, where Marvin continued his commercial fishing career. He built his own fishing boats, the Olympia, the Seabreeze and the Seawind. He fished for tuna, salmon and swordfish on the Washington state, Oregon and California coasts. In 1999, Marvin moved to Sequim, Washington, where he lived until his death. >click to read< 11:09
Barhan Boat Works: Built by fishermen for fishermen
Salmon fisherman Dave Barhan picked an unusual spot to build boats during the off season: White Bear Floral’s greenhouse. On his second season of boat building, the retired teacher recalls driving around the area looking for a shed or pole building large enough to construct a 28-foot commercial fishing skiff. He spied the greenhouses behind the florist and thought it the perfect place. Owner John Birkeland was skeptical at first, but became a believer when Barhan, his two sons and a fourth fishing partner rolled out the first aluminum boat, dubbed “Big Momma.” They call the business Barhan Boat Works, or BBW. Their motto: “Built by fishermen for fishermen.” >photos, click to read< 16:24
Capt. Willard Hamilton Norris, Deltaville’s Last Active Wooden Boat Builder Passes Away at 94
The Bay region lost a boatbuilding icon on Jan. 7 as Capt. Willard Hamilton Norris, 94, of Deltaville passed away. Norris built boats past age 90, best-known for his deadrise workboats. In a 2017 Chesapeake Bay Magazine story, he said he hoped to continue building until he was 100. During the 
heyday of planked wooden deadrise workboats on the Chesapeake Bay, Willard was born in 1927 to a traditional boatbuilding family on Lovers Lane in Deltaville.,,, With the help of his wife Shirley, he built his first “paid to build” boat in the footprint of his soon to be living room and used the profits from the boat to complete his home. >click to read< 10:29
Retired Arbroath boat builder reunited with renovated luxury ship he made almost 50 years ago
Harry Simpson, 68, former owner of MacKay Boat Builders, welcomed the Nova Spero into the town’s marina on Monday afternoon. The vessel, built in 1972, has since been turned into a luxury passenger ship, which overcame difficult conditions to berth in the marina on its way to the Forth. The crew and passengers stopped off in Angus after strong winds trapped them in Peterhead on Sunday. Harry, who waited at the harbour to welcome the ship home, was only an apprentice when he helped construct the vessel.,, “I did everything from laying the keel, the planking, the frames, the lofting, then to the fitting out. I was involved in all the bits and pieces, everything. That’s how I learned my trade.” photos, >click to read< 10:02
Cruises around Scotland on board Nova Spero – Skarvlines – photos, >click to read<
North River Boats
Last spring, North River Boats added a new 33,750 square foot manufacturing building to house all commercial and large boat recreational fabrication. The upgrades have helped North River Boats set pace to build just over 300 vessels this year for a combination of commercial, government and recreational customers. Its current orderbook includes a mix of vessels ranging from fire, pilot and patrol boats to charter fishing vessels. “North River Boats has a very diverse strategy that includes offering several different boat models to many different market segments,” says Mike Blocker, the builder’s sales director., >click to read< 10:58
Wooden fishing vessels are becoming gradually rarer – and what’s even more rare is to see a new fishing vessel built in wood
Le Croisic fisherman Jérôme Debec made the choice to go for a wooden fishing vessel, opting for a 12.98 metre boat with a 6.20 metre beam to replace his previous 15 metre boat. Built for netting and potting, Kab David IV was launched at Saint-Quay Portrieux and will soon be on its way to join the fleet at Le Croisic. While the hull is built in wood, the superstructure is moulded in GRP for ease of maintenance. Kab David IV has accommodation on board for a crew of up to five, a pair of 3.48m3 vivier tanks. Tank capacities are for 6.40m3 of fuel and a tonne of fresh water. The main engine is a Scania DI13, driving a Masson W1950 gearbox to turn a four-bladed propeller. photos, >click to read< 13:59
Lifelong Shelburne boatbuilder retires: ‘I knew how to build a boat when I was 15 years old’
He was only a kid when he knew boatbuilding was what he wanted to do for his life’s work, getting his early learning in the trade from the pages of boatbuilding books read while skipping school in the late 1940s. For close to 70 years, Roland DesChamp Sr., Shelburne, has been building boats, including the last 55 years running his family business, DesChamp and Jackson Boatbuilders Ltd. At 85, he has decided it’s time to give it up and has sold the business, but not the name, which will surely go down in the local history books as one of Shelburne’s most celebrated builders. >click to read<20:25
Every boatbuilder is busy – Waiting list for fishing boats grows longer
Gordon Campbell says fishermen know before they step through the doors of his shop that they will have to wait a while for delivery once they place an order for a new fishing boat. Campbell owns Provincial Boat and Marine Ltd. in Kensington, a builder of fiberglass fishing vessels. “I’ll not use exact times, but several years,” he described his company’s current wait list for new boats. “The word’s out there: Every boatbuilder is busy. (Fishermen) know they’re not going to get one before the end of the year or for next spring or whatever,” Campbell comments. >click to read<
12-year-old boat builder unveils Jacob’s Pride in Winterton
Twelve-year-old Jacob Hiscock has interests that aren’t necessarily the norm for kids his age in Newfoundland and Labrador. He’s not interested in working in an office when he grows up and instead plans on making a career on the water, whether it’s with the coast guard, as a fisherman, or as a boat builder. With his grandfather Frank French, Hiscock has made some major strides on his latest effort at boat building with Jacob’s Pride, a five-foot wooden boat that just touched down on the water in Winterton. >click to read<18:35
Downeast Boat builder Richard Stanley tinkers with a ‘hybrid’
It goes without saying that Richard Stanley has wooden boats in his blood. But at Richard Stanley Custom Boats, he is working on a new design that combines both wood and fiberglass fabrication with the goal of keeping wooden boats economically accessible to local fishermen. As a compromise between the expense of wood and the relative ease of fiberglass, Stanley recently designed a 38-foot powerboat with a wooden hull and a fiberglass top. It’s an idea he has kicked around for years, but it wasn’t until recently that he found the perfect customer for which to execute his design. The boat, commissioned by Doug Mayo of Portland, will be used as a charter fishing vessel and a recreational boat for family and friends. Using fiberglass for the boat’s top will save time and money. Read the story here 14:03
