There’s plenty of boatbuilding work going on at Wesmac Custom Boats in Surry, Maine. “We’ve got so many boats that we’re buried in work; we’re turning them away every day. We are full up to our scuppers,” said Wesmac’s Stephen Wesell.
In Bay 1 at the shop is the 41-foot, Royal Lowell-built wooden lobster boat Ernest, owned and skippered by Linda Greenlaw. Besides lobstering, Greenlaw is said to be the only female swordfishing boat captain on the East Coast and was featured in the book The Perfect Storm. The Ernest was having its wheelhouse painted and the boat is being refastened “all over,” said Wessel.
Greenlaw “has had the boat a long time,” he noted. “The Lugger engine has 16,000 hours,” but, he added, “it doesn’t need to be serviced. It still runs beautifully.” Work on the Ernest should be completed by March or April, “in time for the lobster boat races,” said Wessel.
In Bay 2 is a Wesmac 46’x14’6” tuna boat that will go to New Jersey with a 1,200-hp MAN, along with a water maker, ice maker, green stick and bandit reel. Next to the tuna boat is a 57-footer, “you might as well say lobster boat,” said Wessel, “but it will be used for law enforcement. It will have rope lockers, 17-inch trap hauler, davit, and a 1450-hp MAN engine. It’s an open transom lobster boat.”
“Fishermen aren’t happy about it. It’s for the Maine Marine Patrol for checking offshore gear,” Wessel said. By mid-December it had not yet been given a name.
One more bay over is the Mariah Eve, a 50’x17’10” Wesmac lobster boat that had a 1,000-hp MAN removed and replaced with a 2,000-hp Caterpillar. The 50-footer is being converted into a bluefin tuna boat for an owner in Montana. A local captain who has been overseeing the project will also probably be fishing the boat out of Massachusetts, said Wessel.
The Mariah Eve’s deck was torn out to add additional fish and fuel storage. The new deck is layered with ½-inch rubber. Up forward, bench seats are being added along with an enclosed head with a shower. “Instead of a strictly plain lobster boat, we are turning it into a tuna boat, so they can stay out overnight. There will be a green stick and icemaker and water maker,”
Next to the Mariah Eve, a Wesmac 46’x14’ 6” hull with a 1,200-hp MAN is being finished off as a tuna fishing boat for a New Jersey customer.
