May 2016 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 23. J F Continued from Page 7. 9702


coast looking for a facility. We found two in the Rockland area, Jeff 's was actually for sale at the time, and another one across the way. We tried to fi nd Rumery’s, which we never located. We got interested in New Meadows, but the owner was adamant that it had to be purchased prior to January 1. Someone had a connection with one of the bankers in Lewiston and he put together a deal and we went for it.” On 30 December 1986 they became


owners of New Meadows Marina and they opened the doors on 1 April. This was a three acre parcel with a building on the water, which is where the showroom is today, and an unfi nished home. There were permits for 90 slips. They had a Mercury outboard franchise for parts and service, but another local dealer did not want them to keep it even though John off ered him a liberal policy to work together. With no deal from Mercury, John took on Nissan outboards and added a line of boats, Wahoo. They later took on Vol- vo Penta. They also continued to do Mercury outboards and Mercruiser, but through an out-of-state dealer. When the local Mercury dealer failed shortly thereafter, John wanted the Yamaha franchise he had as did a number of others. Jeff Armstrong of Jeff ’s Marine, who was a Yamaha dealer, told Yamaha that he could work with John and that got him the franchise. “I always felt I owed Jeff something and I didn’t bid against him. Other dealerships had gone down in our area and we were survivors and Yamaha is really what helped us do that,” said John. Mercury got harder and harder to deal


with and it was not long before they dropped the line as well as the others with the ex- ception of Yamaha. They worried about the decision, but in the end it helped their sales and service as they could focus just on that brand. John added that Yamaha has been a savior allowing him to ride out each reces- sion.


To add to their income they rented space


to H & H Propeller, who needed a Maine- base so they could get the Michigan propel- ler franchise. H & H grew pretty quickly and a bigger building with a machine shop was constructed in the early 1990s. About ten years later a steel building was added to this, which housed the service department of the Marina. About 2005 there was a push to get


submerged land leases and for most this was just fi le some paperwork and it was quickly approved. “When we went for our permit,” said John, “we ran into a roadblock with New Meadows Inn. They were being sold and they saw an opportunity to oppose it saying they were entitled to half the river. Nobody knew where the town line was. My dock system was approved by the Town of Brunswick for 90 slips within the Town of Brunswick. If we went by the description that the legislature gave in the 1700s, which said thread of the channel as opposed to the thread of the river I thought we were fi ne. The long and short of it was we spent a pile of money trying to preserve our 90 slips. The fi rst ruling that came down from the powers to be was that it was the middle of the river. We spent a lot of money and a lot of time getting to the second ruling and it came down to a hearing with three commissioners. It is a nonbinding process and you can always go to the court system. The fi ndings came down that the legislature meant to say the thread of the river instead of thread of the channel, which meant the middle of the river. My attorney said that we could beat them in court, but it may cost you another $50,000. I said, ‘Whether I am out of business because I don’t have the dock space or the income from the dock space or whether I am out of business because I can’t aff ord the legal fees I am still out of business at the end of the day. I had had enough.” When the dust had settled John had


to reconfi gure his docks, but it cost him customers. “Our marina clientele was like a campground socially,” explained John. “We had people that would spend their weekends or vacation there. I could not accommodate their boats. If I added docks down river, I would encroach on Bowdoin College and they gave me permission to extend my docks.”


Three years ago another marine busi-


ness made a play for the Yamaha franchise in the Freeport area. This forced John to open a location there so he could protect his territory. The fi rst place they opened was in the rear of the former Autowerkes location about a mile north of the Big Indian. There were four work bays and an offi ce, but there was really no road frontage so many people passing by never even noticed them there. Soon after the property ended up in a foreclo-


Continued on Page 24.


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