Tag Archives: Mike Light
Steuben boatbuilder calls it a day
Mike Light stood in the doorway of his boatshop and watched as a truck hauled the spanking new lobster boat Thai Lady off toward the Milbridge town dock one day before its scheduled launching. On the boat’s starboard quarter, tucked up beneath the rail just forward of the transom and above the federal fisheries permit number, gold lettering outlined in black proclaimed the boat to be “Light’s Last.” But is it? “I’m tired,” Light said as the boat he said is his 79th disappeared down the road on the first day of July. “I’m just tired. I’ve been doing this 34 years, 27 on my own.” If the big Calvin Beal, Jr.-designed 44-footer really is the last boat Mike Light finishes it will end a remarkable career with a perfect Downeast Maine story. >click to read< 12:11
Years of high lobster landings spark resurgence in Maine’s boat building industry
A lobsterman’s biggest expense is the boat. Analysts say Maine’s boat-building industry has made a remarkable recovery since it bottomed out during the Great Recession of 2008, when many of the state’s boat builders, including Young Brothers Boats of Corea, decided to get out of the business. Inside Mike Light’s boat shop in Steuben, a 44-foot Calvin Beal lobster boat is getting a major face-lift that its owner hopes will keep him fishing for another 6-10 years. The seas take a toll on these hardworking vessels, and when the time comes for repairs, Light says, some fishermen are choosing to upgrade. click here to read the story 21:00
