Tag Archives: boat builders
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
Lobstermen and boat builders catch break on diesel engine standards until cleaner-running engines are available
Lobster fishermen are getting a temporary reprieve from federal diesel engine emissions standards because the cleaner running engines have yet to hit the commercial market. “This relief gives boat builders and operators flexibility to meet EPA standards during the next several years,” Wheeler said in a prepared statement. “The larger market for diesel engines can’t build new models quickly enough for marine users – putting these operators in potential violation of pollution rules through no fault of their own.” The diesel engine standards controversy, and the possibility of a reprieve from Wheeler, has been building slowly for years, overshadowed by lobster bait shortages, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S.-China trade war on lobster exports, and the possibility that saving the North Atlantic right whale from extinction could mean an end to lobster fishing as it currently exists. >click to read< 08:42
Father and son continue the Tilghman Island boatbuilding tradition
John C. Kinnamon Sr. and his son J.C., of Tilghman Island, Maryland are steadily turning out fiberglass-over-wood Chesapeake Bay deadrise workboats for Maryland and Virginia commercial fisherman. The Kinnamons are native Tilghman Islanders. Their lives as professional boatbuilders are strongly tied to their growing-up years, when commercial fishing and boatbuilding were vital to island life. They each own commercial fishing boats and work in Maryland’s blue crab trotline fishery. J.C., with the help of his father, builds about four new glass-over-wood deadrise workboats a year. With knowledge that comes from first-hand experience, the Kinnamons have clear insight into what a Chesapeake Bay waterman wants and needs in a workboat. >click to read< 10:20
Booming Maritime lobster industry means long waits for new boats
Some boat builders in the Maritimes are reporting wait-lists for new boats of up to seven years. Good catches and prices the last few years have caused demand that far outstrips builders’ ability to supply — they don’t have space to build more, nor the staff. “The orders are just piling up,” said Roger Hutt at Hutt Brothers Boat Shop in Alberton, P.E.I. “We don’t have the capacity.” Hutt’s has 51 boats on order — the last ones on the list won’t be finished until 2025. >click to read<
New Projects for Boksa Marine Design
Florida based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Boksa Marine Design said it has kept bust over the past few months, with many of its 2017 projects having progressed from design and engineering phases on some and build-to-water on others. Boska provided an update on several of those projects. (Of special interest) The Two Dukes, a 70’ lobster boat, got her feet wet for the first time in the inlets leading into the Pamlico Sound of North Carolina.The Two Dukes was built by Custom Steel Boats in Merritt, N.C. click here to read the story 17:18
The ‘lobster capital of the world’ faces a crucial question
When Deer Isle lobsterman Jeff Eaton peers into one of his traps, he sees a lot more than snappers and selects, hard-shells and shedders. The part-time boat builder and avid lobster boat racer sees the heart of a $126 million regional economy that supports an even larger network of trap makers, bait dealers, marine supply shopkeepers and boat builders like himself. That trickle-down shadow economy has transformed the island, which used to be known best for the granite quarries that built New York and Washington, D.C.’s most iconic buildings, into a thriving lobster economy, now best known as the home to a 300-boat lobster fleet and the town of Stonington, the self-proclaimed lobster capital of the world. “Up here, the lobster business trickles down a lot further than just us fishermen,” Eaton said. “It feeds the whole economy.” Read the story here and view 15 images 08:13
The lobster fishery drives a boat building ‘boom’ in the Canadian Maritimes
Boat builders are benefiting from a steady upward rise in the lobster fishery, which has had everything go right in the past year. The cost of fuel to drive their boats has dropped, while lobster prices are up and catches strong. A lower Canadian dollar has made selling in the U.S. more lucrative. “The combination of those things means lobster fishermen are making more money. The sales we are seeing are the best we have [had] since our organization started recording them and that is 19 years,” said Tim Edwards of the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association. Maritime boat yards are operating at full capacity to meet demand for new lobster fishing boats — costing upwards of $1 million each — which has wait times for those new vessels stretching years into the future. Read the article here 08:04
Bay Weld celebrates 100th boat
Homer Tribune – Bay Welding Services, Inc. passed a landmark this month in the completion of its 100th steel-fabricated boat. This boat is the biggest yet, and the fifth one for the Alaska State Troopers. “One of the things we’ve done is take commercial fishing concepts – what they look for – and integrate that into recreational and patrol boats,” said Eric Engebretsen, general manager of Bay Weld. continue reading
Steve Spurling: 92 and still building boats
SOUTHWEST HARBOR – At Jarvis Newman’s boat shop, on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, the walls are full of framed photos of old boats.Newman was one of the first fiberglass boatbuilders on the Maine coast, producing hulls for luxury yachts, commercial fishing boats, and Friendship sloops at the rate of one every two weeks until he sold the business in 1978. He took the mold for his first yacht from a boat designed by his father-in-law, Raymond Bunker, who built wooden boats with his partner, Ralph Ellis, in nearby Manset from 1946 to 1978. continue reading
New Jersey’s Congressmen push for fishing industry disaster relief
“New Jersey’s fishing industry is one of the drivers of our regional economy and a staple in coastal communities,” the congressmen wrote. “The fishing industry impacts a wide swath of New Jersey’s economy and includes not only fishermen, but processors, boat builders, bait and tackle shops, marinas, distributors, and tourism thanks to New Jersey’s vast charter boat operations.” Read More
