Maine boatbuilders are nothing if not adaptable. In fact many of them wouldn’t exist today had they not been able to change their methods from plank-on-frame to fiberglass to cold-molding to various other systems combining wood, metal and more exotic materials. So it’s not surprising to encounter one shop setting up aluminum frames designed on a computer and cut by jets of water — for a revolutionary boat designed to take today’s home office to sea. Nor is it all that far-fetched for another yard, steeped in the traditions of luxury yacht-building, to undertake precise joinerwork for a large new house: columns, paneling, cabinets, doors and the like.
The “Voyager” partnership between designer Michael Porter, a Chebeague Island resident, and Lyman Morse of Thomaston is all about willingness to try new things: new designs, new materials, new ways of assembling them. Hodgdon Brothers’ move into the architectural woodworking business (if only in a small way, between boatbuilding projects) is all about resourcefulness: finding ways to use the varied skills of the yard’s workforce so it remains intact when boats aren’t actually being built.
This kind of thinking reflects the imagination and skill that has kept Maine’s working waterfronts going through thick and thin for centuries.