John’s Bay Boat Company
Tradition and Technology in New Wood
by Steve Cartwright
Some Peter Kass boat owners attended the launching of John Williams’ new John’s Bay 44' and lined up for a photo with the boat and Kass, second from right. © Photo by Sam Murfitt.
Many a boatyard is no longer beside the sea, and boats are not launched from the yard. They’re trucked elsewhere. Not John’s Bay, where the watchword is traditional.
On a sunny November 17, John’s Bay Boat Company in South Bristol launched the 44-foot wooden lobsterboat Khristy Michelle for Stonington lobsterman John Williams. It’s a work boat but gleaming mahogony cabinetry gives the vessel a John’s Bay trademark of yacht standards.
Williams said as soon as the seams swell he will pilot his new boat home to Deer Isle and start fishing with her. His niece Khristy christened the boat, while Michelle, another niece who was unable to attend the launch party.
While other yards long ago switched to fiberglass hulls, John’s Bay keeps building stout wooden motor-powered vessels for commercial fishing as well as recreational use.
“I like a mix. I like them both,” Kass said of building both work and pleasure boats. Wooden boatbuilding, outside of extremely expensive high-end vessels, has seen some rough seas. Three years ago, work was so slow that Kass laid off his workers and shut down the yard for the winter, building himself a 24-foot lobsterboat from scrap lumber. He fishes about 100 traps. His yard bounced back in 2010 with an order for a 44-foot cruising boat from a customer in Australia.
And now, Kass said, boatyard business is brisk. “The work came back,” he said. There’s an air of quiet efficiency at the yard as a worker shingles an extension of the building to allow for bigger vessel construction; a steam box puffs away so that oak “battens” can be bent, the whang of a handsaw and the tunk of a hammer break the silence.
Not only does Kass use lots of hand tools, he has vintage power equipment, including a drill press from the nearby Harvey Gamage shipyard.
Boat yard founder-proprietor Peter Kass, agile and fit in his early 50s, launched the Khristy Michelle about six months from the keel-laying.
Williams, 58, sold his first Kass boat, a 41-footer, to make room for his new one. “I’ve used this boat for 17 years and she’s good for another 30,” he said. Williams tried fiberglass boats but prefers a John’s Bay wooden boat. “They’re amazing. Everyone of them is a piece of art.”
A full-time lobsterman since 1973, Williams was at sea long before that, helping his dad, Robert Williams, a lobsterman who in his 70s is still fishing with a Peter Kass boat. John Williams said he is sold on wood. “Why would I have a wooden boat? It’s steadier. You don’t feel the vibrations. These boats are a pleasure to work with, and I like the tradition, too. They’ll last a lifetime.”
Word seems to get around. There are a half dozen orders for lobsterboats from Stonington. John’s Bay boats also fish from Matinicus, Vinalhaven and ports in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Kass said a wooden boat “is a more comfortable boat for the fisherman. It feels corny to say but it has a soul. With fiberglass, there’s no warmth, no personality.”
Cedar, oak and poplar come from as nearby as Jefferson and as far away as Connecticut.
Lobstermen often seem to want bigger boats than in the past, and to economize on fuel costs, Kass has been building narrower vessels while adding length. The current boat has a beam of 13.5 feet.
Peter Kass, designer, builder of wood work and pleasure boats at his South Bristol shop. Kass has a large following of owners who can’t praise his boats enough. © Photo by Sam Murfitt.
Kass founded the business 30 years ago, buying several acres with tidal frontage that he admits he could not begin to afford today. He had already worked, at age 17, at the nearby Harvey Gamage shipyard, the celebrated South Bristol yard that launched hundreds of wooden vessels over the years, from draggers to Pete Seeger’s Hudson River sloop Clearwater. Kass helped build the schooner Appledore, the last wooden vessel launched at the Gamage yard in 1978.
Kass worked briefly for Round Pond boatbuilder Bruce Cunningham, and in 1982 decided to build his own boats, hiring an experienced crew to help him.
You won’t find him sitting in an office. He works alongside his trusted employees, hour after hour, taking pleasure in seeing a boat rise from keel to gunwale. On a recent morning he was adding “battens’ to the temporary framework for William’s lobsterboat. He worked quietly with Sam Jones and Andy Dickens as they bent steamed oak to create the curves that will determine the graceful lines of the hull.
Kass is a native of Arlington, Massachusetts. He said he had no history of boatbuilding in the family, but since childhood that’s what he wanted to do.
Peter’s wife, Nina, has helped him in the yard but her main job is teaching at a pre-school in Damariscotta. The couple lived for many years in Damariscotta Mills before building a house right next to the boatyard.
John’s Bay Boat Company has a website: www.johnsbayboat.com