Lee Shore Boats, the aluminum-boat manufacturer whose production facilities are on the west side of Port Angeles, recently closed escrow on 3 acres that adjoins its current footprint on Edgewood Drive.
Eric Schneider, the president of the company, said Lee Shore is currently in the planning stages for the additional property, although erecting one or more structures to support the growing business is certainly on the horizon.
Eric did say that an existing 3,500-square-foot former residence will be converted to much-needed office space.
Eric moved the company from the east side of Port Angeles to its current location earlier this year.
Almost from the beginning, covered space for boat construction was at a premium.
A couple of months ago, he contracted with Accu Steel of Iowa for a fabric-covered hoop building that sits atop a 3,000-square-foot concrete pad that provides a tidy space for personnel to work on boats in the final stages of construction.
One such boat currently in the cavernous hoop building is the 28-foot rigid-hull inflatable police boat that Lee Shore Boats built for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
The boat is equipped with a NavNet 3-D electronics package, and is powered by twin long-shaft, 4-stroke, 250-horsepower Honda outboard motors.
The boat, Eric said, has been in and out of the water a couple of times to find the perfect set of propellers for the Honda motors — a project involving Lee Shore mechanics and a Seattle prop manufacturer.
Eric said the boat has reached speeds of 50 mph but he’s certain that a little fine-tuning on the props will yield an additional 4 or 5 mph.
Eric added that Matt Remine of Peninsula Boatworks, who designs and services all manner of marine electronics and electrical systems throughout the North Olympic Peninsula, is tweaking the electronics on the boat.
Remine is a very talented individual — as are so many craftspeople in the maritime industry — who has interests well outside the marine field, and one of those interests is noteworthy.
Next week, Matt and 13 like-minded individuals are heading to 12th Street and Jefferson Drive S.W. in Washington, D.C., otherwise known as the National Mall.
He is one of 14 finalists in an international competition to design and build a low-emission wood stove that is highly efficient, innovative and affordable.
The event, known as the Wood Stove Decathlon, was sponsored in part by Popular Mechanics.
The finalists’ stoves will be on public display at the National Mall on Nov. 15-19, at which time a winner will be announced.
Matt’s invention is known as a Walker Mass Heater, and since the product and its workings are well outside of my bailiwick, I encourage anyone seeking additional information to view his website at www.walkerstoves.com.
Barge on the hard
Platypus Marine, the Port Angeles-based, full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer, recently stowed a Port of Port Angeles work barge in the big blue Commander Building at Marine Drive and Cedar Street.
The barge, 48 feet by 24 feet, is a platform used by port personnel to maintain its maritime infrastructure, including the log boom grounds, terminals and docks.
According to Marty Marchant, director of sales and marketing for Platypus Marine, personnel removed the rub rails — which in this case appear to me to be 16-inch-by-10-inch timbers — and the zincs prior to sandblasting the hull portion of the barge.
Additionally, personnel built a containment skirt around the perimeter of the vessel to prevent any of the medium used in sandblasting to escape into the surroundings.
The barge will then receive a fresh coat of bottom paint, have her pieces and parts reattached, and go back in the water within another week or so.
Holds reconfigured
Over at the Port Angeles Boatyard, Sea Wolf has been on the hard for about three weeks.
She is a 56-foot commercial fishing boat that is having her holds reconfigured to accommodate slime eels — or, if you prefer, hagfish.
Once back in the water, she will be under the command of Jerry Lauth, late of the Fjord Mist, which sank in 100 feet of water off James Island near LaPush on Sept. 27.
Fjord Mist apparently sprung an uncontrollable leak that overwhelmed the vessel’s bilge pump, and Jerry and his two crew members were taken off the boat and transported to the Quillayute River Coast Guard station.
Sailing exploits
Author, storyteller, boat builder and veteran sailor George Maynard will keynote Wooden Boat Wednesday this week at Port Townsend’s Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation.
George recently published a book about his 35,000-mile circumnavigation of the world titled Scudding.
The Port Townsend resident built a wooden sailing yawl in his backyard sans running water, an engine, heat, refrigeration or a head.
Then he, his wife, their three children and the family dog spent five years living aboard the vessel, Scud, as they traveled the world.
George will share the story of his family’s experiences in foreign lands with other sailors, marine mammals, stormy seas, reefs and near-misses with deep-draft ships.
I suspect that fans of maritime adventures look forward to this Wooden Boat Wednesday, a free event that begins promptly at noon and typically lasts 90 minutes.
Seating is limited and requires advance registration by phoning the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St., Port Townsend, at 360-385-3628, ext. 101.
Or send an email to chandlery@nwmaritime.org.
Port Angeles Harbor watch
Tesoro Petroleum on Wednesday provided bunkers to Alaskan Navigator, a 941-foot crude-oil tanker that was anchored in Port Angeles Harbor.
On Friday, Tesoro refueled American Progress, a 600-foot oil tanker that shifted her anchorage to Cherry Point late Friday night.
Tesoro also refueled CSL Tacoma, a 751-foot, self-unloading bulk-cargo ship that is flagged in the Bahamas and hails from Nassau.
________
David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area waterfronts.
Items and questions 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.
