Wesley Lash Passes at Friendship

The Maine boat building community lost one of it’s Finest Kind in March. Wes Lash died unexpectedly early Monday morning on March 25th. Wesley was sixty 68. His son Wesley Jr. was expecting him at the boat shop that morning as he always was. When he went to his father’s house he learned that his father had died of a heart attack.

Wesley Lash was a boat builder all his working life. He worked with his father Winfield “Winnie” Lash after graduating from Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute in 1965. Winnie Lash is a renowned wooden boat builder who began building boats to 110 feet in the 1940’s. Wes’s uncles Howard and Doug also worked in the boat shop along side Winnie and Wes. One of their wooden draggers was the 44' Grace E. Gretta built for Alden Leeman. Three generations of the Lash family worked on this boat.

They also built the 71' wooden sword boat the Walter A. Leeman.

In 1988 Winnie retired and Wesley moved to a new shop in Friendship where he began building fiberglass boats. He occasionally built wooden boats but the industry was moving to fiberglass lobster boats. “He seemed to really click with the fishermen customers,” said his son Wesley. Wesley Jr. started working with his father shortly after graduating from the Maine Maritime Academy.

Wes Sr. liked wood boats and continued to run his “Sea Flea” in the lobster boats races at Friendship every year. He and his father Winnie worked together on many wood boats, but Sea Flea was the first wood boat Wes completed on his own.

About 600 people came to Wesley’ s wake at the church in Friendship on April 1. Old friends and customers still come by the shop for coffee as they did when Wes senior was there. No matter how busy Wes was in the shop with both bays full and, you were made welcome, made to feel you were the most important thing going on at that time.

Wes Jr. is continuing in the business. He has a 46 Wesmac coming online and lots of repair work. His brother Shawn is a lobsterman and works at the boat shop as well. His brother Dave has also been in the shop.

Wes Jr. said his father had 46 years experience. He said “I worked with my dad for 21 years. Some guys don’t even talk to their dad. I am at peace with it, I worked with him every day, we had a good relationship.”