December 2015 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. GAMAGE SHIPYARD UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT


SOUTH BRISTOL – One of the iconic names on the coast of Maine when you discuss ship and/or boatbuilding is Harvey Gamage of South Bristol. The yard dates back into the mid-1800s and over the more than 150 years has turned out some impres- sive vessels. About two decades ago the yard was no longer owned by a Gamage. The new owner made some changes, the fi rst being nice docks with a new store and offi ce building on it. That was followed by a storage building up back, then a new work shop with three bays, but the most noted was when the huge building used for boatbuild- ing during World War II, came down. This year they wanted to make more changes. Steve Morris was retiring as general manag- er and they wanted to bring in someone who could move the yard to the next level. They announced Mike Tatro as the new general manager, which only made sense. In April Mike left Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, and he said, “The owner of this company wanted to bring in somebody that would help take the company from storage and maintenance yard to a full refi t capa- bility. We have a good start on things. This winter we have got a Wilbur 34 and have just taken the engine out. She will get all new tanks, pilothouse glass, a new windlass and as well some other items. The Alden 44 was repowered this spring. This winter she is getting new teak decks, a new refrigeration system and her house painted. We have got a pair of Dyers in here. One is getting a total facelift and the other is probably going to get a teak cockpit sole. The Ocean Alexander is in for a bow thruster and some other work. Then we have a Bristol 48, still sitting in the yard, and she is coming in for a gen set, new batteries and new house wiring, a new refrigeration system and an Awlgrip job. We


have got a lot going on this winter.” All this is scheduled to be completed by 1 March. Like many other yards, they could use more people and that is becoming an increasing issue. He added, “I am looking for a couple of good people to add to the staff right now. We have got another American Tug up above that potentially we are putting a stern thruster in. Outside of that we have our normal maintenance on 135 boats. They gained about a dozen new cus- tomers this winter as storage customers. However, Mike said, “We are pushing the limits of our lift. Hopefully next winter, possibly the winter after, we are upgrading to a 50 ton or 55 ton lift.”


Another change at the yard was the renovations on the brick house on your right when you enter the yard, which is known as the Gamage house. That will be the new offi ce complex and client lounge, complete with wood fi replace. Next, they will be add- ing to the west side of the dock house they are putting in a new set of fi nger piers. Their permits are to do that this fall and they hope to have that in by spring.


“These are the major capital invest- ments and then just getting these projects going,” said Mike. “That is what I was brought in to do and now we just have to complete them.”


Most people who work around boats were brought up immersed in them, but not Mike, he grew up on a dairy farm in Southern Vermont. He added, “I stayed in Vermont until I did a hitch in the Coast Guard in the mid-1970s. I really like the ocean. My uncle had a boat on Long Island when I was a teenager and I got to sail with him some. I then went back to dairy farming, might even have stayed there if I had had a farm. When the family farm more or less collapsed and


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corporate farming I didn’t enjoy that much, so I came back to Maine. I fi rst came back in ‘85 or ’86, was here for a year, went back to Vermont for a year and then came back like ‘87 or ‘88 and have been here ever since.” When in the Coast Guard, Mike was stationed at Newcastle Island, Portsmouth, NH on ACTIVE, a Coast Guard 210. He said, “I was in there three years. Because I was reserve status, you could go into an active duty status, so I swapped into active duty and fi nished my tour there because I wanted to be on the ocean. I didn’t like tanks. His fi rst real landing place was Isles- boro. “I went to work with Earl McKenzie at Islesboro Marine,” said Mike. “I spent three or four years doing that and left and started my own business wiring boats. My military training had been diesels and elec- trical systems. The work wasn’t really there


and I have always been a wood worker so I started building furniture for Windsor chair in Lincolnville. That turned into a full-time thing that launched my wood shop, which I ran for 17 years. I was building yacht in- teriors, furniture, built-ins on new houses, things like that. I did that for quite a while, but all of the time I had my hand in wiring boats on the side. After that there was a hiatus due to a quick illness for a year and when I came out of that I didn’t want to open the wood shop back up so that is when I joined up with JB [Turner] and started to work at Lyman-Morse. I was with them three or four years. I started out managing their service side carpentry shop, but JB knew I had systems background. After about nine months I was asked if I would join the new


Continued on Page 21.


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