Two lobster boats are among recent vessels coming out of Oceanville Boatworks in Stonington, Maine.

The yard recently finished off a 48’x18’ Mussel Ridge lobster boat for Nick Page, a Boothbay, Maine fisherman, with a hull and top from Hutchinson Composites in Cushing, Maine. The vessel has been fishing since February of this year. 

Currently, the yard is completing a 50’ x19’ 2” H&H Marine lobster boat for a Cape Cod, Mass., fisherman, with a 750-hp continuous-duty Volvo engine.  Both the 48-footer and the lobster boat being built are of composite construction.

“The whole boat will be composite,” says Oceanville’s Dale Haley, referring to the 50' H&H Marine hull.  The vessel has an all-Coosa board deck, fiberglassed on both sides, that will be fastened to fiberglass deck beams.

Composite construction is a form of boat building favored at the yard because, Haley says, “nobody wants wood anything because you have to replace it in 20 years and the resale value is so much better when you have everything composite.” If there’s any wood in an Oceanville Boatworks vessel, “it’s trim, to make it pretty.”

Rubber flooring, in rolls 5’ wide by ½” thick, will be laid over the Coosa deck, which will lead back to an open stern with a hydraulic tail gate. Beneath the deck will be two lobster tanks, port and starboard, with a rope locker between the tanks. Each tank will hold eight lobster crates. “The owner only wanted 16 crates below deck,” says Haley “with the rope locker in between.”

Haley describes the boat’s owner “as a tall guy”, which led to some hull modifications by H&H Marine in Steuben, Maine. The primary modification was raising the sheer by 10". Being a tall guy, the boat’s owner “didn’t want to feel he’s falling out of it when he’s walking down the deck,” says Haley. The raised sheer also helps with knees hitting the wash rail, and when leaning over the side and grabbing lobster traps. 

Oceanville Boatworks should be launching the 50-footer in September.