I visited the large building at the Port Angeles Boat Yard last week that is available for use by those in the local boating trades and individuals alike who prefer to work on their projects in a sheltered environment.
In the building, which can accommodate most boats up to 60 feet in length, is the former Viking Mist, a 36-foot Radon owned by Dan Green of Neah Bay.
Until recently, the fiberglass boat, which was built in 1974, had been at Crozier Craft’s west Port Angeles facility on Edgewood Drive where Chad Crozier and his team gutted it and fabricated an aluminum pilot house, fish boxes, fuel tanks and bulwarks.
For the next month or so, two of the waterfront’s highly regarded trades people, Lisa Britton and Eric Bert, will be working on the next phase of the rebuilding project.
Lisa will paint the boat in one of D.R. Radon Boat Building Inc.’s traditional color schemes, red and black.
Because of the stringent requirements for spray painting, Lisa has mastered the skill of painting vessels using a roller and a paint brush — known in the trades as roll and tip.
She said black and red are the most difficult and least forgiving of all colors to work with.
As always is the case, surface preparation is the primary ingredient for a perfect paint job that is also visually pleasing, especially with a dark color scheme.
Consequently, Lisa is using AwlFair filler, a product akin to Bondo that is used by auto body shops to fill in surface imperfections, as a fairing compound to level and smooth the dings and gouges that have accumulated on the boat’s hull in the past 38 years.
Once the hull has been faired (sanded smooth), she will apply four coats of primer, fairing between each coat, and then lay on three coats of Awlgrip finish.
Lisa is a 2001 graduate of Port Angeles High School with a degree from Peninsula College who went to work on the waterfront nine years ago for Larry Detray.
Larry has since retired, but under his tutelage, guidance from Eric Bert and endless hours of her own research and study, she has developed an expertise in fiberglass repair and painting that has her services in brisk demand.
When I asked her what prompted her to seek out the marine industry for a career, she gave her head a little shake and said, “No idea why.”
Regardless of her motivation for coming to the waterfront nearly a decade ago to pick up a little side money, Lisa is now an integral cog in the wheel of marine trades on the Port Angeles waterfront.
Eric, whose shop, Modern Yacht Joinery, is in the Port Angeles Boat Yard, is building the interior accommodations for the wheelhouse, which is approximately 11 feet long and 9 feet wide.
On the port side, he will install a head, and he also has fashioned a settee with a built-in table that folds down to become the bottom portion of a bunk-bed, the top of which comes down from overhead.
The portion of the starboard side not taken up by the captain’s station will be the counter for the galley, which will have a sink and a built-in refrigerator.
The galley doors will be made of marine plywood that is covered with a veneer of spalted maple burl that Dan Green came upon quite some time ago and has been holding onto for just the right project.
A microwave oven will be installed overhead, and the finished color scheme will mirror the black and red exterior.
Yacht out of water
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard that services yachts, sailboats and commercial fishing vessels at its Port Angeles facility on Marine Drive, hauled out Pathfinder and has her sitting on the hard on a slice of the 4-acre site.
She is a 65-foot yacht that was designed by renowned naval architect Ed Monk Jr. and built by Jones-Goodell Yachts in 1988.
Platypus personnel are building a cradle for an 11-foot Polaris tender, an inflatable boat that will be stowed on the stern, and are replacing some zincs and shaft seals.
Pathfinder is owned by Bill and Judy Sturgis of Nevada and hails from Lahaina, Hawaii.
Their son, Jason, was on site at Platypus to oversee the project, which will take just a couple of days to complete.
Once Pathfinder is back in the water, she will head to Victoria to spend the summer months visiting the favorite haunts of boaters along Vancouver Island.
I chatted with a very busy Jason for a few minutes.
He told me that he’ll be off to Panama this week to work with a group of archaeologists in the search for Henry Morgan’s lost fleet.
Jason is an independent cameraman, cinematographer and documentary filmmaker who has been diving for more than 20 years. His work has been featured on the National Geographic channel, Animal Planet, Discovery Canada and NBC’s “Today” show, to name a few.
Platypus also had Ms. Sam sitting on the hard last week for bottom paint and zincs.
She is a commercial fishing boat that hails from Kodiak, Alaska.
The 52-foot aluminum vessel was the 89th and final boat built by La Conner Boat Works, although records credit American Eagle Manufacturing Inc. with the construction of the boat because it is the entity that acquired the assets of the bankrupt company prior to the completion of Ms. Sam.
Ms. Sam got under way Thursday afternoon and hooked up in Port Angeles Harbor with her traveling companion, Taasinge, a 73-foot commercial fishing boat that had moored in the Boat Haven awaiting Ms. Sam’s return.
They then headed for Bristol Bay, Alaska, where they will be fishing for halibut.
Information place
Two years ago, Washington state created an excellent website for recreational boaters that has matured nicely since then.
The site consolidates a variety of information that is offered by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Licensing, Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development and Parks and Recreation Commission, as well as federal government, nonprofit and private organizations.
The portal, www.boat.wa.gov, makes it very convenient to obtain information on boating safety and education, weather and tides, fishing regulations and licensing requirements as well as moorage information for Washington State Marine Parks.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfronts.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.
