Page 22. MAINE BOATBUILDERS SHOW R. E. Thomas Marine Hardware of Hancock Continued from Page 21.
even know the difference. Today, if you are not lined up reasonably well it makes things shake, rattle and roll. The problem is horsepower, but the real word is torque. All the engine manufacturers are bragging about their low end torque. In other words before you even get up to 1,400 rmps you have terrifi c torque at low end. That torque means it is really moving something. It sure is because if you could be a stowaway below deck with a 600-hp diesel, which is the average today, and somebody punches it, I can assure you that shaft is just a whipping around. What people in the last 10 to 15 years have been fi nding is that they can’t keep their packing nut tight on the inside stuffi ng box. Well, you’re not going to because you are simply rolling dough and the packing is just
creating a bigger diameter inside the nut. It then allows water to come through just as soon as you make one revolution with it. “If you tie a self aligning box to the end of the shaft tube,” continued Ron, “that self aligning box has a piece of rubber on it that goes over both the box and goes down the shaft tube and the box just follows the shaft where ever he goes. It occurred to me that this system doesn’t have problems. We took a box that was in existence for the Young Brothers, an intermediate bearing, and changed it a little bit in the foundry. The only thing that you have to do is introduce water to it. It is barbed on the forward end, which receives the hose just like the shaft tube does. With this system a fi shermen can easily work on the boat himself. With our design you remove four bolts bring the unit to the shop, punch the bearing out, replace the bearing and put it back in. “I don’t know how many we’ve got out there,” added Ron, “probably in excess of 250 units. It works and it works well and that is the key. Every day that you are trying to fi x something, it’s costing you money. The more you are out on the water the better we like it.”
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Ron and his crew are real concern about one thing safety and that is evident in their rudder ports. Ron added, “Again, horsepower is causing a lot of the problem inherent in today’s work boats. You don’t realize the extreme tonnage against the blade of that rudder. We got a hold of Peter Kass’ design and we manufacturer Peter Kass’ style rudder ports. Peter came up with great box. I really believe that it is the best rudder port in the world today for a work boat. It is well designed, rugged, some call it over built, but when you are talking about somebody’s life it is never over built.” Ron also has gotten into shafting and can do shafts up to three inches in diameter. However they do not do propellers and have no interest in getting into that business. Ron graduated from Foxcroft Academy in 1964. Instead of following his family’s
business in the logging industry he headed to Connecticut and found a small company, Copper Weymouth, where he became a machinist apprentice. He said, “I wanted to learn and I was fortunate enough to go into a small shop so that I could get around and learn different things. They made press room equipment for big factories like General Electric, who makes refrigerators. This equipment takes coil steel which come in rolls and through a series of rollers straightens it out. Then it goes through a punch press, which will form or make some metal part with stamping, like a car fender is made.”
Ron then did a stint in the military fi rst
serving in the Army, and later the Air Force. He returned to the State of Maine and went to work for GE as a toolmaker. He worked for them about four years. He had also been doing airframe repair and he said that it gave him some great experience. After leaving GE he went to work for Sylvania on the Hogan Road in Bangor. He was the tool room foreman. Things were going pretty good, but he just got bored and decided to go out on his own in 1973.
He opened a machine shop at the former Bomark missile base. Ron said, “I was sub-contracting for companies that needed tools for their own use to manufacturer something. We got involved with some big people and I still have a customer that 34 years ago we started doing business with.” Ron worked out of Bangor for a couple of years before heading over to Freedom Park in Hermon and opening up shop there. There was a dark side to the success as drinking became a problem. He thought that moving Down East would help cure the problem, and he said, “I got down here and it turned out to be worse. I got smacked in the head for a little trouble I got in and that helped straighten me out. That was 17 years ago and I haven’t had a drink since.” His move from Bangor to Hancock was to downsize the business from 26 people. He now has eight people working with
him. However what impresses me are those machines. The CNC machines can take a block of metal and create a very intricate object in a matter of minutes. All driven by computers that tells the machine what tool it needs and what that tool needs to do. Simply amazing. There are a number of these machines in the shop and he is thinking he needs another. Ron explained, “I am looking at another machine, a smart machine. It is a CNC controlled machine that allows you to work by hand and keep entering your movements into the computer as you go along. In the end you have written yourself a program from your physical movements. That would be good for four or fi ve piece jobs. On a full-fl edged CNC it takes you a couple of hours sometimes to make the setup. This would be a 15 or 20 minute set up with a smart machine. I am probably going to have to have one of those toys in a year or two.”
R. E. Thomas Marine Hardware does all the underwater hardware you need. They even do some special things with bronze, but they try not to get into stainless steel except for the shafts. Ron absolute loves what he does and especially the fi shermen he deals with. He also has a fi ne crew, which makes life a lot easier. Some of the corporate work is not as much fun, but it keeps his crew busy and pays the bills. To Ron safety is number one, followed closely by quality. He does see room for improvements and says that he is not done developing better items so stay tuned.
Foggs Boatworks LLC 230 Cumberland Rd.,
North Yarmouth, Maine
We are a full service boatyard that off ers custom design & building expertise.
Visit us at
foggsboatworks.com or on facebook. (207) 829-6373
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