August 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 15.
70 Memories: Building the Newman 32 By Lee S. Wilbur
1975-1976, The true beginning of the
“Golden Age” in fi berglass boatbuilding. For workboats, whoever could get a new model on the market soonest would keep same model line fi lled with orders un- til the next length was announced. Jarvis Newman was a great example. Once he’d realized Friendship sloops and Hunt “toy boats” were fun to build but high demand lay in working hulls such as his father-in- law, Raymond Bunker’s 36’ model, he be- gan to plan his expansion in that category. Build for the fi sherman and the idea would follow with true yachtsmen, “If Fishermen trust the hull then I know it must be safe and seaworthy”.
Three years had passed since we
launched the fi rst vessel from our one boat barn. I came to realize building one boat at a time, with the time lost launching the one fi nished, then setting up the next and try- ing to work a schedule, losing sometimes as much as two weeks made for an inse- cure future. Someone smarter than I would soon come along, set up an “assembly” line (as shaky as that term could be in custom boatbuilding) and we’d be standing around waiting for hulls. With Jarvis having made a deal with Ralph Stanley to design and build a wood hull 32’ from which he could lay up a new mould, he’d now have two models in demand, so in my usual manner of looking to build a building on the cheap, we soon decided size fi rst and gambled on a new cinder block structure using a new process called “Blockbond” with the blocks laid up dry and the blockbond coating trow- eled inside and out. As a note, the process worked extremely well. Building held up well and was easy to heat. First 32’s were built in 1975 as plea- sure boats in the old shop while the new shop was being built. One went to Mary- land and the other, fi nal touches in the new shop, stayed here in Maine for a couple who owned an island off of Stonington for use as a commuter and picnic boat. By 1976, new building was completed. John Goodwin had done the masonary work and “Block- bond”, Gene Walls, the roof, inside offi ces, and other woodwork. Couldn’t have been more pleased, other than staying awake nights, fi rst years of that 3 AM wakeup call
Passion Craft
no greater for the
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to fi gure out every business problem real or imagined. I can still remember putting any loose cash I had in a drawer to help pay the new mortgage. That lasted about three months until the production line was jammed full.
As with any new model, and in those days wooden boats were used as examples, mistakes were made unintentionally. One was weight. Keels were fi lled with cement, and several were built with too much fi ber- glass. Bruce Fernald’s STORMY GALE was a perfect example. Lobster boat, en- gine forward in the cabin, 4-71 Detroit, if memory serves, and concrete under the engine beds. She was bow heavy and squir- relly. Wasn’t long before concrete was de- leted from the building plans and glass was lightened to a more realistic weight. After the three year’s experience with the Newman 36, and a lot of conversation between Jarvis and myself, we had agreed the best route to follow in doing the “New- man 32”, was an all fi berglass boat. Hull, house, and platform. Quality would be bet- ter, longer-lasting, and we could produce a much higher volume of boats. Especially workboats.
Then came the question of a better way to get the hulls up the hill from his shop to ours. Dragging wood cradles just didn’t cut it in the overall scheme to “modernize??” Hydraulic trailers weren’t even on the ra- dar. Jarvis came up with the idea of having removable steel wheels which would slide in under the cradle sleepers by jacking up the back of the cradle, pin in place, and drag the cradle with a smaller truck which I had. Worked great. Total of an hour’s time, shop to shop, boat in place and steel wheels back to the Newman shop. Tops and plat- forms we brought up on a modifi ed sailboat trailer designed for a Rhodes 19. The fourth Newman 32 in the new shop to come off the line I mention because it was one of those boats which stands out in my years of building. It was for a guy by the name of Robert McCuliffe from U. S. Virgin Islands. He had no fear. Planned to deliver the boat by water. Had us build the boat with a Detroit, either 4-71 or 6-71. I think the latter. 32’ seemed to us like
Continued on Page 24.
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