Tag Archives: boatbuilding
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
Our coastal communities are drowning, largely thanks to tradable quotas and licences.
British Columbia’s coastal communities, long dependent on fishing for their livelihoods, are in serious trouble: population down, youth retention down, incomes down, investment down, infrastructure down, health and well-being down. It’s now almost impossible for young people to enter the fishery because of the high cost of purchasing or leasing the Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) attached to most fishing licences. ITQs are permits to catch a certain quantity of fish, and can be freely traded or leased. Coastal communities that used to have dozens of fishermen now may have a handful at best. The boatbuilding, repair, and gear supply businesses are likewise disappearing. How did this happen to our once prosperous coast? East Coast, best coast?>click to read<12:32
Engine shortage slows pace of boatbuilding
Seated behind the desk in his office, boatbuilder Stewart Workman seemed pretty relaxed for a businessman with a big problem that seems to be growing worse.,, Over the past couple of years, as more of the lobster fishery has moved into deeper waters far from land, Workman’s customers have been looking at the biggest boats he can build, but he is finding it difficult to satisfy their needs. The reason is simple. “There are no engines available that are big enough to safely operate our (biggest) boats offshore,” Workman said recently. Fishermen are the customers who are feeling the pinch. The new emission rule exempts non-commercial vessels. >click to read<19:48
A Time to Build & Refit
The aging Pacific Northwest fishing fleet is either undergoing or about to undergo a long-overdo upgrade, judging by a major economic report commissioned by the Port of Seattle. Fisheries managers, seafood suppliers, yards and the supply chain all hope an accompanying surge in ship finance “lifts all boats”. For now, the newbuild count is growing apace, slowed just a bit by owners opting for major retrofits amid rich fish harvests. This fisheries upsurge comes with some rising stars of ship design-and-build for vessels set to ply the Bering and Beaufort seas. The ’70s were the heyday of boatbuilding — half of the current U.S. Pacific Northwest’s 400-strong fleet of vessels over 58 feet were built when sideburns were mandatory. The fleet’s boats are so well-maintained, most of them, that they’re still candidates for retrofits of engines, holds, electrical systems and deck machinery. Read the story here 08:14
The History of the Downeasters at Wesmac Custom Boats
Downeasters, aka lobsterboats, are renowned for their seakeeping ability and classic, thrifty, Yankee good looks. Bred in Maine a century ago, they serve as cruisers, sport-fishers and workboats of all types around the world. Like any good idea, though, lobsterboats haven’t remained static. They have evolved into subsets of successful local hull forms as developments in propulsion and the needs of boaters have changed. Right now, we are on the cusp of a new evolution of Downeasters. Just what is the history of the Downeaster? What characteristics have made it so enduring? And how has it changed? To find out, we headed to Wesmac Custom Boats, a premier Downeast boatbuilder in Surry, Maine, that is creating a new “hybrid” design that takes what might be the most venerable and recognized boat type in the world to the next level. Read the rest of the story here 13:28
Clark’s Harbour shipyard awash in boatbuilding orders
If you want Gregory Symonds to build you a fishing boat, get in line. “We’re booked until fall 2017,” said Symonds. Together with his son Terry, sister Sybil Kennedy and niece Randi Symonds, the 64-year-old finishes about 10 Cape Islanders a year in his Clark’s Harbour boatyard. A sign reading Boatbuilders Wanted hangs over the front door of Bruce M. Atkinson Boatbuilders just up the road. All five of Clark’s Harbour’s boatyards are flat out. Read the article here 10:28
