R.E.Thomas Marine Hardware

New Captain, Same Mission

by Mike Crowe

A dozen CNC machines and an experienced crew of machinists keep up with the inventory of R.E.Thomas machined bronze and stainless steel marine parts. Fishermen’s Voice photo

HANCOCK—R.E. Thomas Marine Hardware in Hancock, Maine has a reputation for making high-quality bronze and stainless steel marine hardware. That’s thanks to the expertise of founder Ronald Thomas.

Now, after 45 years in the business, Thomas has handed the reins to a successor equally as dedicated to safety and quality. New owner Ben Dinsmore, a ship’s captain who traveled the world before purchasing the business in February of this year, said he expects to expand the business.

Thomas founded the company in 1973 as a machine tool manufacturing company, making precision machine parts and components for a wide range of industries. One of the firm’s biggest jobs, Thomas told Fishermen’s Voice earlier this year, involved making 40,000 gun bolts, to be installed on firearms for the U.S. government. At that point, Thomas was running a 26-person shop.

Thomas entered the field of marine hardware when he bought casting patterns from a foundry in Massachusetts which had acquired them from a failed company in Connecticut that was going out of business. Thomas saw possibilities for the products. It was his engineering, design, and machining experience that enabled him to see that the patterns needed to be redesigned. The old patterns produced castings that were under-built for use in contemporary, high-horsepower vessels.

So Thomas designed new, heavier and correctly engineered patterns for foundry use. The result is “one of the best lines of products to set up a boat for safe, reliable, and long-lasting use,” as he said. His catchy slogan is to keep the workboats “fishin’, not fixin’.” And custom products are integral to the business, with new designs and improvements continuously underway. Products from the manufacturing plant include shaft bearings, stern bearings, dripless shaft seals, stuffing boxes, rudder ports, propeller shafts and couplings, rope/line cutters, skeg bearings, shaft tubes, cutlass bearings, deck plates and bronze fittings.

Through the years, R.E. Thomas became the company that today furnishes most of Maine boatbuilders with their underwater marine hardware and marine running gear. Through the company’s website, customers also include a diverse marine audience across the country.

The 11,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Hancock, Maine has a wide range of heavy machinery for high precision work on parts up through larger vessel marine parts. Fishermen’s Voice photo

Thomas said his top priority has always been boating safety. As he’s written on his website, “Unlike manufacturers who have succumbed to the pressures of economics (material cost is high, so lighten the product weight) we will never compromise ourselves with just profit-making decisions. We will maintain the safest, strongest, most precision marine hardware available. With more and more horsepower being used in commercial as well as recreational boats today, the demands on most of our products have increased dramatically. We continue to redesign for strength, durability and safety.”

Judging by comments on the website, some customers also consider the custom products to be works of art. As one customer wrote, “Ron, I can’t thank you enough for the beautiful hardware you made for my boat. It all looks so good, I hate to mount it on my boat. I want it to hang on the walls of my family room!”

In 2017, Thomas said, he saw it was time to retire. But he wanted to find someone who could take the company to the next level. He said he found that in Ben Dinsmore. Dinsmore is familiar with marine hardware from years as an executive officer and captain of large ships. Thomas said that Dinsmore’s management experience as a ship’s captain, coupled with his master’s degree in business administration, made him confident that Dinsmore could expand the business successfully.

“I’m comfortable and confident with the R.E. Thomas crew of machinists who will transition with the new owner,” said Thomas.

Dinsmore bought the company in February of 2018. Fishermen’s Voice caught up with Dinsmore shortly afterward. “I was always interested in boats and boating,” Dinsmore said. “A shoreside industry associated with these seemed a likely direction for me.”

Dinsmore said he noticed R.E. Thomas’ listing with a brokerage. Because Dinsmore originally came from the Hancock area, he researched the company, talking with folks from his hometown area, who spoke well of the company. Dinsmore said his positive impressions were clinched when he visited the shop and met Thomas and the crew.

Dinsmore has been the captain of two ships, and previously served as executive officer for 10 years. His most recent posting involved overseeing construction of a 750-foot oil-drilling ship in South Korea, to ensure that all systems were installed and operational as designed, and to train the crew. He then sailed the ship back to the U.S., running through the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and across the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.

A week after Dinsmore’s last day on the ship, he was at the helm of R.E. Thomas Marine Hardware. He said his business administration studies – he earned a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst in 2012 – prepared him for the career change.

All of the R.E. Thomas employees will remain with the company, said Dinsmore.

Asked about similarities regarding running a large ship and running a manufacturing company, Dinsmore said, “On ship, there is stress being responsible for the ship and drilling operations. The three-week rotation meant there was a temporary disconnect from that stress. While there are stress similarities in business and it is constant, in business you are not facing the same set of responsibilities as you are on board a ship. Dinsmore said, “Both jobs come with a tremendous amount of responsibility. On ships, people look to the captain to ensure the operation is run safely and efficiently, and part of that is ensuring the vessel is fitted with seaworthy components. I know what it’s like to experience mechanical failures at sea, I’ve been there, and I know what’s at stake. Every time I see a piece of marine hardware go out the door, I don’t lose sight of the fact that someone’s life is counting on that piece of equipment.”

Dinsmore said the company will continue to maintain the same high level of product quality established by Thomas. While a large part of the marine hardware line is currently geared to fishing boats and pleasure boats, Dinsmore said he’ll explore hardware for larger ships and sees growth potential in other New England markets.

R.E. Thomas Marine Hardware is on U.S. Route 1 in Hancock. The 11,000-square-foot facility has 12 computer numerical control machines, four manual lathes, and a large inventory.

“We are aware of the importance of the products we make,” said Dinsmore. “We have a range of quality controls in place. We know people’s lives depend on these products. Our customers have faith in us that we will deliver to them the quality they expect.”