At Marshall Boat Works, Gene Maffucci keeps his wooden boat afloat

Gene Maffucci has owned the 79-year-old Vivian since 1985, doing maintenance and upgrades at Marshall Boat Yard.

Gene Maffucci bought the 32-foot wooden boat, Vivian, in 1985 and brought the vessel to his shorefront property on Tomales Bay in Marshall, Calif. “My father helped me fix it up,” says Maffucci. “We did most of the work right here at the house. We redid the rails and bulwarks. We did the hatch combing and the front window, and the pilot house—just about everything from the front of the pilot house on back.”

Built at Genoa Boat Builders in San Francisco in 1947, the Vivian has a 12-foot beam and draws 4 feet. “My father, Joseph, built it,” says John Beviacqua. “My grandfather came over from Italy in 1902; he had been a boatbuilder over there. He worked for his cousins for a while and then started his own yard on Fisherman’s Wharf. They had been building Monterey boats, double enders, before World War II. Then the Navy took over the yard, and when they gave it back in 1944, my father took over and started building bigger boats, like the Vivian. He built them with a horseshoe stern because the fishermen wanted more room, and the rounded stern worked better for hauling lampara nets. They were mostly fishing for anchovies, sometimes sardines.”

When builder Joe Beviacqua launched the Vivian from his shop in San Francisco in 1947, the boat had a 50-hp Detroit 271. Gene Maffucci replaced it with a Detroit 353 when he bought the boat in 1985, and installed a Cummins 4.5 in 2024. Photo courtesy of G

According to Beviacqua, in his father’s day, a boatbuilding contract was nothing more than a handshake. “They delivered a boat with an engine and drivetrain, a battery, and a compass. They built them one at a time and could build one like the Vivian in three and a half months.”

The Vivian came down the rails with a Detroit 271 marine diesel that produced around 50 horsepower. “They weren’t fast,” says Beviacqua, who recalls that the boat was named after the original owner’s daughter. “That’s how I found Gene. We went up to Tomales Bay on a little vacation, and I saw the boat, and thought: That’s one of my father’s boats. And when I saw the name, Vivian, I remembered that that was the original name.” He and Maffucci have become friends and share an enthusiasm for the old boat.

By the time Beviacqua, now in his 80s, reunited with the Vivian, she had been through a few changes, all for the better. “I have to give credit to Gene,” says Beviacqua. “He’s taken good care of her. It’s because of him that the boat’s still working.”

“Besides all the top work we did in 1985, we also replaced the engine,” says Maffucci. “We took out what I believe was the original 271 and replaced it with a Detroit 353, which is close to 100 horsepower.”

Maffucci, cleaning a king salmon, trolled for these valuable fish when the runs were strong. “I have a liner I put in the hold and I’d put ice and seawater in there,” he says. “The markets demand top quality.” Photo courtesy of Gene Maffacci

For decades, Maffucci fished the boat, primarily gillnetting roe herring and trolling salmon. He once put 9 tons of herring aboard the little boat. “That was in the bay,” he says. “I wouldn’t try that out in the deep water. For salmon, I had a liner I’d put in the hold and fill it with ice and salt water.” Knowing that the market rewards quality, Maffucci bled and cleaned his salmon and carried them in his improvised RSW system.” He mostly day fished, but the Vivian has two bunks and a small galley set up. “I have a little propane stove top and a microwave, and a sink and a 40-gallon freshwater tank,” he says. “I only ever took one other guy, and we didn’t usually stay out overnight.”

Maffucci has a basic electronics package on the Vivian. “I have a Garmin GPS, sounder combo, a Furuno radar, and a Furuno depth sounder,” he says. “I have an old Wood Freeman autopilot.” Maffucci notes that the Vivian has shaft steering that turns a gearbox on the rudder. “I also have jog steering with a lever I connected to the steering system. I have it in the pilothouse, and it also runs up to the flying bridge, so I have it up there too.”

Owner, Gene Maffucci replaced the Vivian’s deck in 2018 using Douglas fir. Maffucci mostly fished for roe herring and salmon. “I once put 9 tons of herring aboard—in the bay. I wouldn’t do that outside.” Photo courtesy of John Beviacqua

Although fishing has slowed, Maffucci hasn’t stopped keeping the Vivian in top shape. In 2018, he replaced the Douglas fir deck, working at home. “We just put on new Douglas fir,” he says. Maffucci notes that in the early years of owning the Vivian, he did much of the work on her at home, using the tide when he had something to do below the waterline, but in more recent years, he has hauled out at Marshall Boat Works. “With the tides you’re up in the middle of the night, waiting,” says Maffucci. “I got tired of it. It was easier to haul at Marshall.”

In 2024, Maffucci did more than the annual maintenance. “We hauled out at Marshall and were there for a couple of months,” he says. “We replaced the engine and refastened the bottom.” Maffucci took out the old Detroit 353 that he and his father had installed in 1985 and replaced it with a 105-hp Cummins 4.5. “It’s got a Borg Warner Velvet Drive and 3:1, a 1 ¾-inch Aquamet shaft, and a 28 x22 wheel.”

Maffucci refastened the bottom with 2 ½ -inch #14 bronze silicon screws, and he reports that all the ribs were solid. “I didn’t have to sister any of them. The boat has always been tight,” he says.

Beviacqua recalls that his father used oak ribs and Douglas fir planking on his boats. “Before the war, they used Port Orford cedar, but that got too expensive. He used to get his oak and Douglas fir from a supplier called Beronio Lumber, [still in business in San Francisco]. Back then, they used all galvanized nails for fastening.”

As Beviacqua explains, the craftsmanship that went into his father’s boats can be traced back two thousand years to the family’s ancestral home in Varazze, Italy, where boats were being built in the age of the Roman Empire. “They were still building sailboats when my grandfather left,” Beviacqua says. “One of our family members married into the Baglietto family. Pietro Baglietto was one of the most famous boatbuilders of the 1800s.” Beviacqua didn’t inherit his father’s skills, but as a school kid, he worked summers in the shop doing small jobs. “Everyone spoke Genovese,” he says. “It’s a dialect of Italian, and they made sure we learned it.”

The Vivian has a rich heritage, and in order to keep the boat fishing—if the salmon runs ever rebound and a high-value herring market ever returns—Maffucci and partner have taken over the lease on Marshall Boat Works. “Last year he and I tried to haul our boats in summer when the weather was good, but by the time they got to it was winter and raining, and the window of opportunity had passed. So, we went to the owner and took over the lease.”

Maffucci reports having trouble getting the previous leaseholder out of the yard, but he has plans for improvement as soon as he can get access to the facilities. “The travel lift is in bad shape,” he says. “I bought a new one that’s up in the Great Lakes and am planning to get down here as soon as we get the keys to the yard and get it cleaned up.”

Gene Maffucci and a partner leased the yard in 2026 in order to guarantee the service they need. One of the first things Maffucci wants to do is replace the travel lift so that it is safe for the Vivian. Photo courtesy of John Beviacqua

If Maffucci does for Marshall Boat Works what he has done for the Vivian, then good things can be expected. “There aren’t a lot of options for boats in Bodega Bay,” he says. “They either have to go to San Francisco or up to Fort Bragg to haul out. We hope to get Marshall Boat Works back in shape and offer services to the boats around here.”