July 2013 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. FARRIN'S LAUNCHES STEADY FOR WEST COAST CUSTOMER
WALPOLE/SOUTH BRISTOL – There are only a select few boatbuilders in the State of Maine that have cultivated a market on the opposite side of the United States. Over the years Farrin’s Boat Shop in Walpole has sent eight boats west, the newest, STEADY, a Calvin Beal 38 fi nished off as a pleasure cruiser, will be heading to California. This is the fourth boat for the same owner. His fi rst boat was a 38 Wesmac, followed by a 36 Wayne Beal and 35 Mitchell Cove. Farrin’s received the hull and every- thing else was custom built in-house. The problem with the production tops is that they sometimes need to be altered to the owner’s needs and that means it costs just as much as the custom top. This owner designs his own boats and they always need to be altered as he might want a long or shorter trunk and or shelter cabin.
Down below she has a master stateroom forward, which includes a centre berth, hanging locker, storage, sliding doors and an entry into the head-shower with a vacuum fl ush toilet. The head and shower are one, but has custom shower rods for a curtain that will prevent everything from getting wet. There is also a propane fi replace down for- ward mounted on the bulkhead in the master stateroom. In the head-shower there is a wa- tertight door that allows access to the engine room. There is also another stateroom with a berth and a pipe berth above. Up in the shelter is the galley, which includes a seven cubic foot stainless steel Isotherm fridge/
freezer and a propane cook stove with oven and broiler. All the countertops are Corain. Also in the shelter is an L-shaped settee with a dinette, full-length table; a small settee on the starboard side and lots of storage everywhere. Through the galley countertop there is access to an aft stateroom below the platform, which is 7 x 6 foot and has a queen size berth. The interior is fi nished in the Herreshoff-style with white bulkheads and cherry trim. The soles are teak and holly and the cockpit is solid teak.
In the cockpit there is an L-shaped settee with a 15 x 40 inch table; the transom can be opened up so that her owner can bring on board his infl atable; and there is also a 30-inch swim platform. STEADY is powered with a QSM11 Cummins diesel engine that pushed her along at a top speed of 25 knots and a cruis- ing speed of 20. She has a 2:1 ZF gear, 2¼- inch shaft and a 30 square Nibril propeller. She carries at least 350 gallons of fuel, 300 gallons of water and has a 70 gallon holding tank.
All of the boats Farrin’s has done that head west have been fi tted with solar panels. This boat has three panels and even though the day was overcast they had to drop the voltage because she was putting out more than needed. This boat is fi tted with shore power, but the owner has never used it saying that the solar panels supply all the power he needs.
H&H Propeller supplied the shaft and Publisher's Note Continued from Page 4.
the collection was lucky and got some of it, but not everything he had wanted to go there. In a way some of this was his fault since he had a very loosely worded will. However, in a conversation with an auction house I was told people today do not care what is in the will, they want the money.
Another interesting conversation may explain this. I was talking with a boatbuild- er’s wife recently who said that some wives absolutely despise their husband’s occupa- tion and once they are gone, they want all his stuff gone. They do not care about the money or the historical value they just have it hauled to the dump because they absolutely hate it. Over my career I have heard of collec- tions being donated to institutions or being sold off. For those major collectors it is not always easy to fi gure out the best place for a collection to go. If donated to a museum it could end up in their collection, entirely or in part, or sold depending on their interests, again partly or in part. Some collectors sell their collections before they pass on. To them it could be due to a fi nancial need, or the
STEADY running off South Bristol during sea trials.
interest has waned, or they want to see it go to someone they know would appreciate it. That is understandable because many family members do not have the same interests or level of passion.
The problem is that the real value may not be in the items that you can get money for, but the piles and piles of papers. These maybe things they wrote down from their research and could be the only record of a specifi c aspect of history. Once gone it is likely gone for good unless someone else documented it. It is also all the work they might save a future researcher. You do not know how thankful I am to Robert Applebee for his work on Maine built vessels, which I have been expanding on. It took hundreds of hours to computerize, and now we are trying to fi ll in the blanks.
If you have a collection, whether ma- rine or something else, make sure those that survive you know your wishes and will carry them out. Have a will that spells out where everything should go. Saving history is important and what you might save will give future generations a better look into our world and how it evolved.
propeller, as well as the Diamond Sea- Glazed windows; Billings Cole put the hydraulic steering together; Troy Benner of Fairwind Marine did the electrical; Sawyer & Whitten installed the electronics; and Hallett Canvas & Sails in Falmouth did the canvas work and cushions. STEADY was launched for sea trials at the Gamage yard in South Bristol on 13 June. The owner came east just after the sea trials, had a launching party and then began a long cruise. He was going to cruise the coast of Maine, then head down to New York, up the Hudson River, through the Erie Canal and into the Great Lakes as he makes his way to Duluth, Minnesota. From there STEADY will be trucked to her home in California. As Bruce Sr. stated, “That is one hell of a maiden voyage.” Bruce Sr. was born into a family of
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commercial fi shermen, even though his father did not fi sh, but Bruce developed a real love of boatbuilding. In 1963 he went to work for Harvey Gamage and began sawing frames for the schooner SHENANDOAH. He progressed to working on the deck and then in the joiner shop. Bruce was there for nine and a half years before going out on his own right across the gut from the Gamage yard. The fi rst boat he built was a 36-footer designed by Alvin Beal of Beals Island. The orders just kept coming and so did repair work. Disaster struck when during the Blizzard of ’78 his shop fl oated off her pilings. Everything was gone, including a boat partially fi nished. He then moved his shop to the present site in Walpole and was up and running by June. It also ushered him
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