Lois Ann Moran - Boats of the Year 2009

2009 BOATS OF THE YEAR

John Williams: Maisie McGoo JOHN WILLIAMS BOAT COMPANY launched its seventh Stanley 38, Maisie McGoo, in June after an intensive 10-month build that often required many subcontractors working simultaneously in close quarters. Mechanics had to find space to install redundant waste and water systems, a generator, a water maker, and a retractable stern thruster.

Named after the owners’ West Highland terriers, the boat features details such as Mt. Desert pink granite countertops in the galley and head, and bronze hardware, some of which was fabricated in the shop, including the anchor roller, bow pulpit, and davits. The boat is powered by a 540-hp Cummins engine; it cruises at 17-18 knots and tops out at 21-22. On the repair side, the hull of Izurde—a 43' Cheoy Lee schooner—was extensively repaired, the topsides Awlgripped, the galley rebuilt, and the navigation station modifed. After the grounding of the MJM 34z Blitzen, the crew rebuilt the main engine, replaced the generator, rudder, shaft, and propeller, and repaired the hull. www.jwboatco.com; 207-244-7854.

During the WOODENBOAT SCHOOL’s 29th year of building boats, students at the Brooklin facility built the following boat designs (and some surprises—read carefully): a 20' Boothbay Harbor One-Design; 6 Nick Schade-designed Night Heron sea kayaks; a Karl Stambaugh Bay skiff 15; Nat Herreshoff’s Coquina; 14 Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) 17LT sea kayaks; a 12' Westport skiff; a 10' Pete Culler wherry yawlboat; 3 E.M. White cedarand-canvas canoes; 7 bronze salute cannons; 12 CLC lapstrake dories; 8 Bill Thomasdesigned Willow sea kayaks; an 11' Asa Thomson skiff; 2 Ted Moores strip-planked canoes; 2 Sam Devlin Peeper dinghies; 3 Whitehall pulling boats; 23 RC-controlled pond yachts; 2 Chaisson dory tenders; 10 CLC Skerry daysailers; a 16' Walter Barron plywood outboard skiff; 4 Grain surfboards; 8 Bill Thomasdesigned Fox canoes; 7 traditional figureheads; a John Brooks-designed Somes Sound 121⁄2, 12' Ellen sailing dinghy, and 9' Compass Harbor pram; 2 Joel White 9'6" Nutshell prams; 10 Eric Schade-designed Wood Duck kayaks; 11 CLC Annapolis wherries. Work continued on a restoration of the 25' Henry Scheel sloop Cinderella. www.woodenboat.com; 207-359-4651.

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Gregory Walsh(2)

Alison Langley

completed a Wilbur/Wesmac 44' flybridge cruiser which now resides in Long Island, New York. www.wilburyachts.com; 207244-5000.

LOIS ANN L. MORAN WASHBURN & DOUGHTY by Gregory Walsh

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O ONE WOULD MISTAKE THE Lois Ann L. Moran for a yacht, but its recent delivery was as noteworthy an event as the completion of the most eye-catching custom craft from one of Maine’s boatyards. This 121-foot tugboat, built for Moran Towing Corp., is a survivor of the devastating fire that destroyed the Washburn & Doughty shipyard in East Boothbay in July of 2008.

Formerly known as hull no. 94, the tug is built entirely of steel, with hardly a sliver of visible wood, except in the interior spaces. The green hull and red superstructure are highlighted by prominent black funnel casings adorned with Moran Towing’s big white “M.” The Lois Ann did not always look so polished. Its hull, which had been newly plated, was salvaged from the yard after the fire. While many smaller items of equipment were destroyed, it fortunately was not distorted by heat and flame, though some exterior plating had to be replaced, and both of the engines had to be removed and sent back to the manufacturer for refurbishment. Shipyard workers were able to continue construction on the vessel, even while a new 50,000-square-foot building was being built around it.

Rejuvenated and newly painted, the Lois Ann L. Moran, complete with lower

After the fire, the Lois Ann’s unfinished hull was one of the few things in the yard that remained intact.

Some plating and both engines had to be renewed before finish work could begin.

MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS

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February / March 2010

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Issue 108

BOATS OF THE YEAR 2009 superstructure and with much of the interior and exterior equipment installed, was launched down a railway one year and 12 days after the fire, turned over to the new crew this past October, and put to work for Moran shortly after.

The Lois Ann, like a half-dozen others in the Moran fleet, is designed to fit snugly into the deep notch in the stern of a 425-foot-long oil barge, and to stay there almost permanently. The tug is attached to the barge with mechanical gear that allows it to pitch independently while rolling in synch with the barge; thus, the combination is called an articulated tug-barge unit, or ATB. When fully loaded, the barge can hold some five million gallons of petroleum products (118,000 barrels), but the tug can still push it along at speeds of 8 to 12 knots, depending on weather conditions.

“It amazes me what went on here in the last year or so,” said Bruce Doughty, one of two owners of the shipyard. “It’s beyond anything that I ever would have expected.

It is a testament to what can be done if people put their heads together when everyone has the same motivation.”

Doughty attributes the successful rebirth of his shipyard to the collaborative spirit and immediate support of hundreds of people and organizations, including Maine’s governor, John Baldacci; Moran Towing; dozens of vendors, customers, contractors, and local supporters; and the employees, many of whom had to endure a period of unemployment before the company could put them back to work. Today the flourishing yard, with twice the amount of space as before the fire, has four or five tugs in various stages of completion and more employees than it had before the fire. With funding from a federal shipyard grant, construction may soon begin on a new 12,000ton dry dock that could bring in more work, according to Doughty.

The people at Moran Towing were key to Washburn & Doughty’s recovery from the fire, he said. Moran, with tugs working from Texas to New England, is the shipyard’s largest client.

“Without the support of Moran it would have truly been an absolute disaster,” said Doughty. “The president of the company was here at the yard pledging support before the fire department had finished its work. This company is a great group of people. It’s like working with family. They’ve got values.”

Anyone who has ever admired the muscular profile of a traditional tugboat should immediately sense that Lois Ann L. Moran comes from a different mold. While oldtime tugs, including many harbor tugs, have relatively low freeboard and are protected by tons of rubber fendering, this one is tall and almost ungainly looking on the water.

The freeboard forward of amidships is dramatically raised but has less fendering than is usual on traditional tugs.

Much of the tug’s unique look comes from the elevated pilothouse, situated 55 feet above water. The crew, which is almost always looking over the full length of a 425-foot barge, needs all that height to see ahead. Because of its size, the elevated tower, complete with pilothouse attached, was built at Hodgdon Yachts in East Boothbay. The tower was lifted onto the tug and welded in place a few days after launch.

One thing the Lois Ann L. Moran does have in common with more traditionallooking tugs is plenty of horsepower. It is fitted with a pair of 2,600-hp Electro-Motive diesel engines that produce full power at 800 rpm. Each engine has twelve 710-cubicinch cylinders arranged in a V-configuration. All that torque is transferred by 10-inch diameter steel propeller shafts to a pair of five-bladed propellers, each of which is nine and a half feet in diameter. There is tankage for 142,000 gallons of diesel fuel; the tug can also carry 16,000 gallons of potable water, plus it has a reverse-osmosis watermaking system.

The Lois Ann L. Moran is actually the third nearly identical ATB built by Washburn & Doughty in the past few years. A fourth is under construction now, with delivery expected some time next summer. That will be hull no. 98. Imagine the party they’ll be having for the launch of hull no. 100.

N Washburn & Doughty Associates, 7 Enterprise St., East Boothbay, ME 04544.

207-633-6517; www.washburndoughty.com

www.maineboats.com

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MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS

YACHTING SOLUTIONS acquired the yacht brokerage firm of Cannell, Payne & Page of Camden and began development of a marina in Rockland, named Trident Yacht Basin, for vessels up to 250'. The largest transformation in the repair shop was a 42' Duffy, in for a cosmetic overhaul in the guise of window replacements, a full Awlgrip job, a new head system, toe rails, a custom Sitka spruce mast, and custom cabinets. Among many other projects were the installation of an electric motor for a Herreshoff 121⁄2; the reconditioning of a Yanmar 4YL engine on a well-preserved 1959 Hodgdon launch; a new stem and forefoot for a 76' wooden motoryacht; and new motor mounts, shaft alignment, and a rebuilt gear box for a 36' Stanley. The Rockport yard was recognized as one of 1,200 nationwide companies in the Safety & Health Awards Recognition Program (SHARPS), for its level of voluntary safety compliance. www.yachtingsolutions.com; 207-236-8100.

As usual, the last word goes to Doug Zurn, of ZURN YACHT DESIGN in Marblehead, Massachusetts, who summed up the year past, and the one to come: “With the doom and gloom of these economic times lingering the vast majority of the year, I’m happy to say it looks as though ZYD has dodged another bullet. There’s a real advantage in running a tight ship, especially in the downturns. We were blessed with several new design challenges in 2009 and some ongoing work. The latter consisted of design work for ShannonElder Yachts of Port Townsend, Washington, which began tooling the Inland-Sound 48 in the fall of 2008, only to put it on hold for better economic times. The design work continued in both 3-D and 2-D to ensure that every detail of the boats intricacies will fit and function, and we look forward to picking up with the build-out on this cruiser. Nine new MJM 40zs were built in 2009, with more in the order books. We have two refits in the works, one being Black Knight—an ex. America’s Cup committee boat—and the other a Dickes-designed Pettegrow 44. New designs included a pair of 30' tenders, one center-console and one dive boat, for an expedition yacht. We’re looking forward to designing more sailboats, comparable to the Bruckmann 42 we did a few years back. Smooth sailing.” www.zurnyachts.com; 781-639-0678.

More Boats!

You can keep current with fine new boats and notable rebuilds from Maine and beyond in two ways: Online at the “Just Launched” section of our website (www.maineboats.com); and in person at the annual August MAINE BOATS, HOMES & HARBORS SHOW, August 13-15, 2010.

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