March 2017 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. A B - W C ?
ROCKPORT – Anyone who traverses the coast of Maine, especially on the water, will quickly realize that this is a haven for classic woodenboats. There are numerous wooden lobsterboats moored in almost every harbor and usually in the same harbor they are sur- rounded by some of the fi nest wooden yachts in the world. We must acknowledge the own- ers who are caretakers of these classics, but more importantly, we must acknowledge the yards that painstakingly repairs and details them every year, like Artisan Boatworks of Rockport.
Recently Alec Brainerd, owner of Arti-
san Boatworks, sent out an e-mail off ering the Bar Harbor 31 JOKER as a total resto- ration project. The Bar Harbor 31 was de- signed by Nathanael G. Herreshoff and built by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company of Bristol, RI in 1903. They were built for the summer resident racing at Bar Harbor. Alec added, “The only one that is still sailing belongs to Bob Vaughan up in Seal Cove and she is rigged as a ketch. There are none left with the original Marconi rig. There is one called INDIAN at the Herreshoff Museum in Bristol which is really nicely preserved, but will never sail again. In the early 1990s, there was a Bar
Harbor 31 sitting in a yard needing a total rebuild. There is also one down in Alabama, ZARA, which was being restored, but the status of the rebuild at this time is unknown. Another one went to Europe and was sup- posedly rebuilt there. “Bob Vaughan at Seal Cove Boat Yard
has had JOKER for a long long time,” said Alec. “She has been through a couple of owners since it’s been out of the water. I worked for Bob back in the early 90s, and it was sort of the derelict then. I have always thought that it would be a great project for
us to do. The guy that owned JOKER had bought it as a project boat and the fi nances didn’t materialize. I was talking to him about another project and it came up that he owned JOKER. For the last three or four years we have been talking that if we ever found a client that would underwrite the restoration that he would be happy to give JOKER up. Finally, the owner just said look, why don’t I just sell you the boat for a dollar and then negotiate with Bob to get it out of hock. So that is what happened in the Fall. He sold me the boat for a dollar and Bob and I talked about a price that would be fair for him to get it out of there. So as soon as a couple of the boats that are in front of her get moved out of the way in the Spring, it is coming over here. We are going to build a nice steel cradle for her on some 40 foot I-beams to support the shape. The fi rst goal is to stabilize it, get it well covered and support the shape.” There has already been a little interest
in doing the project, but Alec does not think someone from this side of the Atlantic will be the one to step to the plate, he feels it is more likely to be a European. A number of Herreshoff boats have been sold to Europe- an owners and they are extremely popular racing on the Mediterranean. Alec said, they are working to build relationships with captains and project managers on that side of the Atlantic, but nothing real promising yet.
Recently they just completed two resto-
ration projects. One was on a Dark Harbor 20 and the other was on a Haj class racing sailboat. Alec added, “It is cool because they are both 30 feet, they are both built in the early 30s and for yacht clubs within sight of each other here on Penobscot Bay. Those two boats were in the shop from September through last week. I wouldn’t say total res-
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toration, but lots of frames and fl oor timbers and a lot of hull fairing. The Dark Harbor 20 got a new keel. They didn’t have much shape to begin with and with the Haj we actually splined her hull. We routered out the seams and were able to jack the ends up a few inches before we glued the splines in.
I think we got a lot of that shape back.” The Dark Harbor 20s raced at Islesboro
and the Haj class raced at Camden. There are a number of Dark Harbor 20s left around, but just fi ve or six Hajs. Alec thought it would
Continued on Page 20.
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