How often do we get the chance to buy back a boat with family significance? Chrisso Rheault was able to do just that when he bought a 26-foot sloop that his father had built.
Maine’s stellar reputation for new boat construction gets the limelight. But it is all-purpose yards like Great Island Boat Yard with their capacity for service, repairs and refits that are the backbone of the state’s maritime industry today. Searching for more meaningful lives, Great Island owners Steve and Stephanie Rowe left high-powered corporate jobs to run the yard.
Paul Molyneaux and his son build a skin-on-frame kayak as a home-schooling project and learn deeper lessons about the balance of power between man and nature.
The MJM 50z not only boasts a classic downeast look and smart design; it also takes offshore performance to a new level. Designer Doug Zurn’s modified deep-V hull provides a snappy helm response and a dry ride, even in steep seas.
The new e33LM is a fast, wood-fiberglass hybrid daysailer. The first model proved itself right away last spring, winning its class in the Hyannis-Nantucket Figawi Race just a day after it was launched and rigged.
The new Morris Ocean Series 48 GT has more sail area, a lighter hull, and a redesigned interior. Morris Yachts also took note of many small features that customers appreciate and worked them into this distinctive Chuck Paine design.
Tubby Legs, a Finboat designed by Harry Bryan of New Brunswick, Canada, has a flexible fin off the stern. Reciprocating foot pedals push the fin back and forth, propelling the vessel through the water like an undulating fish. It’s the eighth boat built at Islesford Boatworks, a summer boatbuilding school.
Most Maine boatbuilders who cater to commercial fishermen will tell you the same thing: 2014 was the year of the big boat. The majority of those big boats were built for lobstering. We look at a few of them.
