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March 2012 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 21. Seventies Memories: The "46" By Lee S. Wilbur


Forty six feet. It was big. Today, fiberglass boats of that size are common. Witness the Kady-Krogens, Grand Banks 49, myriad of sportsfishermen and cookie- cutter look-alikes. But back in the late 70s when virtually all the hulls available had been 30' plus up to perhaps a 38' this one would dwarf them all. Jarvis Newman had decided to go all the way and build something right to the limit of his capabilities.


Remembering our first conversation about his doing a 46 footer, I had no idea who Royal Lowell was when Jarvis first said Royal was to be the designer. Must confess that I now realize how insular it was living in Southwest Harbor at the time. Anything that was necessary for life sustainability could be easily purchased in my little coastal town of 1900 people. There were two auto dealerships, two clothing stores, five grocery stores, a five and dime, pool hall, two electric/electronic shop/stores, hardware store, drugstore/soda fountain, movie theatre, two gas stations, two fish wharves and no full time restaurants. We lived in Manset which is part of Southwest, a mile and a half from the center of town and there we had two more markets and a gas pump along with our own post office. The Newman shop was roughly a hundred yards from ours. This was our world. Jarvis and I would laugh that we hadn’t been “uptown” in over a week. “Work” was our world as well. Ten hours plus a day and often over 50 hours a week. There were boats to be built to set sail on the ocean. I digress. Apologies. I soon met Royal, and his partner, Eliot Spalding and came to respect their design abilities after the first 46' was launched. But first, the Newman Co. and the Wilbur Boat Co. had to learn how to build this behemoth, how to get a finished hull of some 30,000 pounds up the hill to our shop and then a finished boat back to the water. Wooden cradles would work for smaller vessels and (perhaps) for lighter commercial boats but never for fully found yachts which soon followed. We had to build steel cradles on wheels. I certainly give Jarvis a world of credit for understanding and exploiting the latent market for larger hulls. He was a pioneer, as were others of that period, and placed the Downeast hull solidly in competition in both the yacht world and the commercial.


With John Fish Jr.’s JENNIFER ANNE in 1978, the first 46-foot commercial boat to be launched and destined to fish out of Point


Judith, RI, we realized this was a winner. She laid out a most beautiful flat wake, handled easily around the docks, and would take just about any sea the old Neptune could dish out. I still have a picture of son Derek after launch, no more than six or seven years old at the time, standing at the helm on a lobster crate that John found for him and steering the boat. He looks so serious and so sure of himself that it still brings tears of pride to my eyes.


To say that orders began to flow would be an understatement. Jarvis immediately had 12 on the books. In short order we had three underway in the shop. Jarvis, with just a two man crew consisting of Roland Stanley and Roy Sprague, could mould a hull and install the engine in about three weeks. He always refused to use a spray gun to apply resin for the layup or a “chopper” gun for the fiberglass, always maintaining that the “bucket and roller” and hand rolled glass method gave a superior finished product. Hard to argue when you’ve never had a hull failure.


In that same year we launched the


REBECCA J, a dragger to be fished out of Kennebunkport, the STARLIGHT III, an offshore lobster boat for Alfred Osgood of Vinalhaven (who later told us about a storm he’d come through on his way in from offshore, worst he’d ever been in, where they had to steer the boat around “towers of water”). We also completed the JEANNIE III for Ron LeClair, another offshore lobster boat, ISABEL J. a gillnetter for Ron Laplante of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, another offshore lobster boat, PRETTY GIRL, for John Peabody of Portland, and amongst all of these workboats managed to complete the first yacht, ANNALOKIN for Curtis Blake, co-founder of Friendly Ice Cream Co. Throughout most of that year we had three and four 46s on the floor and under construction with a 32-foot often wedged in as well. The 46 had so much flare forward that with two placed together we could set up some of the stationary woodworking tools between and still have room to maneuver. At the time we were still building the superstructures and decks out of wood and fiberglassing over. A great time saver we quickly realized with JENNIFER ANN was not having to build trunk cabins. There was so much room forward we could set the windshields directly on the foredeck and still have plenty of headroom and a good crew quarters if needed. ...continued next month. “Fair Winds and Good Roads”


COMMERCIAL FISHING... Continued from Page 20.


keeping, false check-in, and knowingly buy- ing illegal or untagged fish.


The investigation revealed that the cur- rent control measures for regulating striped bass harvest could be improved. The IWTF and the Commission’s Law Enforcement Committee (LEC) recommended increasing penalties for illegally harvested fish and implementing a uniform commercial tagging system among all states with commercial striped bass fisheries.


The IWTF and LEC acknowledge the efforts of Maryland, Virginia and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission in initi- ating measures to deter the activities de- tected by the Task Force. Maryland has re-


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 “Lofting” provides a full size pattern of a two dimensional plan. The bow and stern sections were drawn in full scale to ensure


all angles and views met properly.


 Traditionally, the fi rst section of a new boat laid is the keel. Gundalows do not have a keel (single central


timber at the bottom of the boat), so the fi rst section laid is the planking and fl oor timbers in the fl at center section of the boat. Following lofting, the curved bow and stern framing is cut and assembled along with side frames.


 Trunnels “tree nails” connect wood parts in the gundalow much like pegs are used in post-and-beam


construction. Thousands of trunnels were used in traditional gundalow construction. We also use hand-cut bronze fasteners for longevity and strength.


 The sheathing that wraps the sides and the bottom of the gundalow are called planks. Long


continuous timbers are set in a steam box to make them fl exible and then are bent to fi t the curvature of the boat frames.


 The shear clamp, deck beams, and deck framing and


blocking are installed once the planking is completed. The deck is caulked to insure water tightness.


 Thousands of feet of white cotton caulking and oakum will be driven into the gaps


between the planks to create a water tight seal.


 Once the decking is in place, the house,


hatches, deck boxes, rails, rudder and stump mast are installed. Our local blacksmith fabricated and installed sweep locks, stanchions for life lines, the yard band and the windlass.


 The entire boat is oiled and painted to protect it from the


water, air and sun. Oiling begins as soon as timbers are secured into place.


 Sea trials and adjustments are


completed once the gundalow leaves the shipyard and is launched at Prescott Park. Small fi nal repairs, fi nish work and adjustments are made after it is in the water —then it will be ready for the fi rst public sails!


            


  grommet hole


©2011 Sam Manning studio NACL


grommet hole www.gundalow.org  


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TEL. (207) 633-4971 A. Franklin Luke FAX: (207) 633-3388 RALPH STANLEY, INC. is now


formed its commercial fishing management rules, including the suspension or revoca- tion of commercial licenses from violators and increasing the penalty for commercially fishing without a license. The Potomac River Fish Commission has permanently revoked the commercial licenses of the violators iden- tified from the investigation, while Virginia suspended the commercial licenses of iden- tified violators for two years, the maximum amount allowed by Virginia law. The Board will consider potential man- agement options for inclusion in the Draft Addendum for public comment at the Commission’s Spring Meeting in May. For more information, please contact Kate Tay- lor, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.


Maine Coastal News is now entirely online: www.mainescoast.com


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