This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
May 2013 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 15. Boat And Ship Yard News Continued from Page 1.


a little bit of fl are up forward. Not what he wanted. We took out a lot of volume, got the buttocks and bottom to be more like a yacht, because it doesn’t need to carry a load and he probably isn’t going to go that fast. So in the end it is not really the same at all even though that is where we started.” Where the design project got most inter- esting was trying to get the trunk and shelter lines to the owner’s liking. Mark continued, “The deck is Art Paine’s. He and the owner worked on this idea for fi ve years. The owner went through three architects. Last summer Art and him fi nally got this project going in the direction he liked and it is very cool. The deck house is very car like. It has got the crown top and long sweep back. It is nothing like a Downeast boat at all.”


What is interesting is that there will not be any drawings for the deck. Art Paine is going to go up there with battens and create a full-size mock-up. This mock-up will begin to take shape this summer. (For more on the construction of this boat see French & Webb in the Boat Yard News section). As mentioned in the last issue, we wrote


about Mark’s involvement in assisting in the modifi cation of the Northern Bay 38. He said that he had just sent Gary Kief of Morgan Bay Boat the fi rst sportfi shing profi le for the 40. Mark added, “They are going to stretch this one foot ten inches. He wants to start this right off, but he is working hard on a 38 and I don’t know what his schedule is. However, he has a customer and he wants to get it done soon.”


Downeast Boat & Composite fi rst of- fered the Northern Bay 36. They sold these moulds and tried to go back to the designer Spencer Lincoln to get him to make them a 38. Mark explained, “Spencer Lincoln did not want to do it so John came over to Chuck Paine offi ce and we essentially took the original lines and made them bigger, a little deeper, wider and all that stuff. We made some changes to get the centre of buoyancy right and John had ideas. He wanted the keel thinner and much more fair, but kept the same shape. I wouldn’t take any credit for the shape that is Spencer’s.” We also wrote in the last issue about a Northern Bay 42, which Mark is hoping to draw from scratch. He feels that it would be better to do this than try to stretch out the existing 38. As Mark explained this is


expensive and by the time you are ready to lay up your fi rst hull you could have an investment of $200,000 to $300,000. He added, “It is tough. I don’t blame Gary for wanting to try to change it by taking a hull and making it longer and wider. It has been done before and a lot of Maine boatbuilders are experts at it. However, modifying the 38 to a 40 is a good idea. It will look good, run good and I am behind that all the way.” The fi rst time I heard of Mark working on a lobster boat was when he did some de- sign work for Paul West of West Bay Boats in Steuben on their 31, which was designed by Richard Alley of Beals Island. Over the years he has done several projects with West Bay Boats, one being modifi cations of the Northern Bay 38, which is West Bay’s 37. What Mark really liked was West Bay’s deck mould for their 37, which has much better lines than the Northern Bay’s 38, which is a workboat deck.


Mark grew up on the East Coast of Florida. Back during the Apollo space program days NASA was always looking for draftsmen. He said, “It was so bad that when you were in the ninth grade you were essentially drafted. They would tell you they could get you out of high school one year early if you sign up for this program. Well I signed up and did it. I liked drafting and got very good at it because the pressure was just unbelievable. It was full on all the time, draw, draw, draw for engineers that had these wild ideas. It was a great experience. However, I still loved boats more and during this high school educational program they ran out of drafting classes so I had to take it at Westlawn School Yacht Design. Then I got a job at Jack Hargrave’s offi ce in West Palm Beach. I did not have a feeling for where I was going or why, I just wanted to draw boats. That turned out to be a wonder- ful thing. I worked for Jack for fi ve years. It was great, good guy, and certainly good at what he did.”


Mark then came to Maine for a couple of summers and fell in love with the coast. He added, “I met Chuck Paine at Tom Morris’ shop and we just hit it off. Chuck said if you come up here you can work for me. Well I packed up my stuff and did in 1987.” “I worked for Chuck, for what 23 years, and then he retired,” continued Mark. Mark became known as the powerboat designer of


Continued on Page 18.


AALSMEER  HOLLAND


THOMASTON  MAINE


ABERDEEN HONG KONG


FOLLOW US


 


  


 








                 


                 





 


Wherever great paints are sailed.


Paint and varnish. Experience the two passions of Epifanes at your local chandlery, online at www.epifanes.com or call us at 1-800-269-0961.


The Unsinkable LegendTM 11 to 37 Feet


Since 1982


1/2 MILE OFF ROUTE 3, NORWAY DRIVE IN SALISBURY COVE, BAR HARBOR, ME (207) 288-5247 Fax (207) 288-5277


OPEN: MON-FRI 8-5, SAT 9-12 E-mail: bowdenmarine@acadia.net info@bowdenmarine.com Website: www.bowdenmarine.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32