The silhouettes may look classic, but builders across Maine are outfitting traditional Down East-style boats with modern features and thoughtful customizations. Whether working in wood or fiberglass, craftsmen are blending heritage design with contemporary performance, accessibility and convenience.
Farrin’s Boatshop in Walpole, for example, has fitted accommodations ranging from lockable wheelchair stations at the helm to doggie doors in cabinetry. John’s Bay Boat Company in South Bristol designs ergonomically curved helm seats to conserve precious inches in tight cockpits. Sabre Yachts in South Casco equips some models with Volvo Penta IPS pod-drive systems, freeing engine-room space and adding joystick control for easier handling. Wilbur Yachts in Southwest Harbor recently added a custom green-stick base for tuna fishing to a sportfisherman built for Caribbean waters. These are modern interpretations of familiar Down East lines.
Builders and finishers
On a bright day in early May, Moonshot slices across the harbor. “You can drive a lobster boat, but this is a whole new ballgame!” says Josh Gray at the helm, grinning. He and his brother Seth operate Newman & Gray Boatyard on Great Cranberry Island. Over the winter their crew finished a Williams 38—an example of classic Down East styling above the waterline paired with a thoroughly modern, planing hull that tops 40 knots.
Designer Doug Zurn of Zurn Yacht Design modernized the Stanley 38 lines, preserving the traditional profile while creating a planing underbody. The hull was built using e-glass and Core-Cell and equipped with twin Volvo Penta IPS600 pod drives mounted on rubber isolators to reduce vibration. A Zipwake dynamic trim system controls pitch and roll, modular teak decking provides a refined finish, and the engine hatch operates electrically, tilting from flat to vertical at the push of a button. Even the ignition sequence is user-friendly: the helm awakens with a key inserted before a chip reader.
The result is a boat that handles with surprising zest and remarkable smoothness. “Hold on, I’ll turn,” Josh says as he banks at speed, and passengers feel the difference immediately. The owner, who summers on Great Cranberry Island, praised Newman & Gray’s workmanship and professionalism.
Seth recalls how the team refined the electric engine hatch through mock-ups and repeated adjustment until it worked perfectly. Standing on the dock among classic wooden boats by Bunker & Ellis and Ralph and Richard Stanley, the Gray brothers said building Moonshot was a leap from restoring 1960s wood boats to creating a fast, modern cruiser. “This is 21st century,” Josh adds.
The Family Farrin
Farrin’s Boatshop prides itself as a custom finisher of classic hulls—transforming blank hulls into highly personalized craft. The shop’s work ranges from practical accessibility modifications to surprising conveniences and creative layouts. One standout project, Kelly Anne, a 34-foot Calvin Beal sportfisherman, required significant adaptation for an owner paralyzed from the chest down: a transom door with an extendable aluminum ramp and a secure, lockable wheelchair station at the helm made the boat usable and safe for him.
“If people have thought of it, we’ve done it,” says Brian Farrin, whose parents launched the yard in 1970. The shop has installed hidden pop-up computer monitors, custom dog doors, and even children’s staterooms tucked under galleys. Farrin’s current projects include a 43-foot Carroll Lowell yacht and a 42-foot Calvin Beal sportfisherman, both built with Down East sensibilities and modern amenities. The all-composite Beal includes specialized features such as a tuna door with a ramp to water level, a 30-foot green stick, and an outside helm—tailored to the owner’s fishing and cruising needs.
“We’re a small yard, so we can take the time to work with owners and build the boat they want,” Brian says—an approach that blends traditional Maine craftsmanship with contemporary expectations for comfort and capability.
The Perfectionist
At John’s Bay Boat Company, owner Peter Kass quietly upholds the highest standards of plank-on-frame wooden boatbuilding. Tucked down a narrow peninsula road, Kass’s shop, marine railway and lumber piles are understated, but his work is anything but. Known for meticulous carpentry and thoughtful design, Kass builds vessels for both commercial fishermen and discriminating yachtsmen.
One recent launch, a 42-foot Down East cruiser named Rhum, features wooden decks, hand-finished trim, bronze and brass hardware, double doors to the pilothouse and custom windows. Its transom was cold-molded in five layers for strength, then refined into a gate to the swim platform. The helm seats are ergonomically curved so cushions aren’t necessary—a clever space-saving detail.
Interior joinery shows Kass’s dedication to craft: raised paneling, curved corners, alternating dark and light woods, Sipo beams, and paneled doors around the refrigeration give a warm, classic feel alongside modern comforts like granite countertops. Nearby, the shop is building a 47-foot workboat, Sailor’s Way, for a repeat customer who wanted a larger, tougher boat after seeing an earlier model, Outer Fall.
“I’m not this way about everything,” Kass says with a laugh. “But the boats we work on? Yeah.” That devotion to detail keeps Maine’s wooden-boat tradition alive while allowing room for contemporary improvements.
More boats from Down East, production and custom
Across the region, established yards continue to produce a mix of production models and bespoke builds that reflect Maine’s boatbuilding diversity. Sabre Yachts introduced the Sabre 45 Salon Express as a new midrange model with a two-stateroom, two-head layout. Back Cove Yachts maintains steady production with models like the Back Cove 32. SW Boatworks and Ellis Boat Company launch sportfishing and express cruisers tailored to individual owners. Hinckley’s Trenton plant is busy with jetboats and updates like the Talaria 48 MKII, optimized for pilothouse entertaining. Atlantic Boat Co., Wesmac Custom Boats and Wilbur Yachts are also delivering custom sportfishing and pleasure craft with specialized fishing gear, Herreshoff-style interiors, and other owner-driven features.
Whether contemporary or classic in appearance, these Down East boats share a common thread: skilled local builders combining tradition with innovation to create vessels that meet modern expectations for performance, comfort and specialized use.
This article originally appeared in the July 2017 issue.