July 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. Chummy Rich Sells Bass Harbor Boat
BASS HARBOR: Back in May several boat- builders from Mount Desert Island came to the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport to discuss their businesses. One of the guests was Rich Helmke, who at the time was working at Bass Harbor Boat with owner Chummy Rich. He made several interesting comments one being that when he originally came to the Island he was supposed to close on the purchase of Bass Harbor Boat. Well, after eight years that has happened. I met Rich several years ago when he visited the Penobscot Marine Museum to go through the boat plans that had been donated from Bass Harbor Boat. It was obvious that he had a love for the yard and the boats they built. That became more obvious when I learned that he owned a Robert Rich built boat. Something else that became very evi- dent was that he gave new life to Chummy and things at the yard began getting busier and busier.
When asked about the purchase, Rich explained, “About 2005, my wife and I had made the decision to move up here. Chum and I had a tentative deal on the table and it took me a year or so to sell my house. I moved up here, but by that time a few things had changed for Chum. We decided not to do it then and I went to work for him.” One can chase this a little further back to a boat that Chum’s father had built in 1959. Rich added, “Chum and Gene Walt probably built it. She is a 28 foot pleasure boat and was built for a fellow that lived in Duxbury, Mass. When I grew up on the Hudson in Nyack, New York, that boat was there al- ready. When I was in my 30s I bought it and started working on it. She had no builder’s plaque or identifi cation. I found out through pictures at the Maine Boatbuilders Show that it was built for this fellow in Duxbury so I called him. He told me it was built here. He said, “Well stop in and see the shop and see Chummy.” So I did. Chum suggested that I just let him fi nish it. I said, “Well I can’t afford that.” I went home after the summer
vacation and found a way to borrow some money and asked Chum if I could come up and work on it with him and he said sure. So I spent the winter of ‘03 up here working on it with Chum and his crew. He and I hit it off and thought that we could possibly work something out in the future. So I worked on my wife trying to get her to move, because we were well-established where we were.” Nyack had been the home for Rich’s family since the early 1800s. The house that he lived in was his great grandfather’s home. Rich also had worked at Julius Peterson boat yard on the Hudson River. This was a large yard, which had built 110-foot sub- chasers during both World Wars and air-sea rescue boats during World War II. They also built yachts, some of them over 100-feet in length. However the major aspect of the business when Rich went to work there was storage and repair. Rich added, “I started there when I was 13. There were a handful of guys that still worked there during World War II and I feel so lucky to have dropped into that place when I did. By that time there were still a lot of wood boats there, but not a lot of them getting used. They had huge old buildings that used to have railways going into the water. So as a kid who loved wood boats that was heaven: Richardsons, Elcos, and Chris Crafts. The owner of the yard passed away and then it went on to his grandson, and he was looking to sell it just as soon as he could. Today it is still a boatyard, but they tore down most of the buildings. Rich said, “I mostly self-taught myself by watching and working on my own boat. There was a fellow there, who at the time was building a boat that he was going to live on and sail around the world. I wouldn’t say he took me under his wing, but he was an incredible woodworker and taught me a lot. My fi rst old boat, a 1956 Chris Craft Sea Skiff, had all sorts of bad frames, ribs and timbers and I asked him if he would fi x it for me. He said, “Well I’ll show you how to do it and he taught me a lot.”
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Rich said, “I thought I’d miss Nyack. I have never thought about going back. I love it up here.”
He then added that delaying the pur- chase of the business was the best thing that could have happened. “If you come here from out of town and open up a business you are not going to get anybody,” said Rich. “I was able to come here and work with Chum for eight years and work my way in. Just from getting to know everybody and then working with Chum was priceless. Both in knowledge and entertainment, but every day you learn something here. The fi rst thing I learned from Chum is that they know about wood boats up here. Basically everything we thought we knew down there was wrong he told me and to a certain extent he was right.” Rich purchased the property, including
Chum’s house, which he can live in as long as he wants. He is also now an employee and can come and go as he pleases.
Over the past eight years there has been some changes at Bass Harbor Boat. Rich said, “When I came on there were no wooden pleasure boats kept here. Now we have a building full of them.”
One of the major changes was the ad- dition of a storage shed several years ago. This is now fi lled with classic wooden boats all needing maintenance each season. When asked if there was room for another build- ing he explained that he is hoping to add a building in the next couple of years. He also hopes to have a paint and varnish bay in it. This past winter was extremely busy. Rich stated, “A 32 Grand Banks was in and we more or less went over the whole boat. We had the engine out of her, new fuel tanks, new engine beds, updated all of the
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Rich Helmke and Vicki Musetti.
running gear, new exhaust, fuel system, all the brightwork was wooded, eight coats of varnish, and lots of custom work. That was a big job. Now we have this 30 foot Ronald Rich and that is a big job. That was a total do over, converting it from a fi sh boat to a pleasure boat. Then we have all of the reg- ular maintenance work to do. We are busy, and that is good."
Over the last several years Bass Har- bor Boat has become busier and busier and one reason for this is Rich Helmke. The knowledge he has gained over the years from Chum and others is certainly an asset. Combine this with his love for wooden boats, his drive to do excellent work in a timely manner, and it creates an excellent home for them. For those looking for a place to store or have a wooden boat repaired, do not overlook Bass Harbor Boat.
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