2015
Working Waterfront
Port Townsend is a destination: 4
Sailmaking, rigging, and canvas experts teach, too: 6
Riggers take pride BUMS get ‘er done in professionalism: 10 at PT Boat Haven: 12
Supplement to the Wednesday, January 28, 2015 edition of the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Finish with finesse Port Townsend’s working waterfront includes men and women, family-owned businesses and independents, co-ops and people who work from the back of their ve-
hicles. Joni Blanchard of Leatherwood Finishing Co. has been keeping boats beautiful in Port Townsend for 25 years, with varnish, paint, and interior and exterior maintenance. She has also mentored many local up-and-coming finish workers, and collected her wisdom in a book called “Tricks, Cheating & Chingaderos: A Collection of Knowledge and Tips for Varnishing and Painting Wooden Boats.” Photo by Rachel Ganapoler WORKING WATERFRONT Editor: Robin Dudley Layout & Design: Marian Roh
Boats love it in PT Boats of all stripes are lucky to be in Port Townsend. This edition of “Working Waterfront” spotlights just a few of the locals who help get boats up and running, safely and comfortably ready to go. From stem to stern, Port Townsend marine tradespeople have got you covered; there’s a wealth of knowledge around here that is as broad and deep as it is diverse. All kinds of specialists and generalists ply their trades, and collaboration is the norm. Take a stroll through the Boat Haven and you’ll see much more than pleasure boats or cruising yachts. Fishing and commercial vessels of all shapes, materials and sizes, small ferries, research boats, tugs, landing craft and
other burly beasts haul out for refit, maintenance and repairs in Port Townsend. Boat Haven has everything boats need: expertise, a huge array of workers and shops, gear and supplies, a number of cafes, even a coffee roaster (Sunrise Coffee) and a brewery (PT Brewing Co.) What more could a boater need? The Port of Port Townsend is planning to add a second launch ramp for trailer boats at Boat Haven, and in coming years a new set of breakwaters for the Point Hudson Marina at the other end of town, which is home to the annual Wooden Boat Festival, set for Sept. 11-13, 2015. Coming up is the Olympic Peninsula Salmon Derby, Feb. 20-22 and the Shipwrights’ Re-
gatta on Feb. 28 kicking off a full schedule of sailing and rowing races. Marine trades and related businesses are rich with economic vitality, bringing all kinds of people to the area and sending them out to sea again. With more than 100 members, the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association is a valuable resource for marine tradespeople and boat owners alike. In downtown PT, the Northwest Maritime Center engages visitors in maritime life, offering a variety of programs from kids’ sailing to Coast Guard licensing classes to boatbuilding workshops, and partnerships are blossoming between NWMC and the PT School District and
Cover Photo by John Stanger
[\
the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, based in Port Hadlock. On the pier at Fort Worden, the PT Marine Science Center gets people engaged in understanding and protecting the marine environment. PT is also home to the schooner Adventuress, a 101-year-old vessel sailed to educate, inspire and empower folks of all ages to care for the marine environment, and the schooner Martha, built in 1907 and still winning races, often with students on board. If you have a boat, or just like to look at them, come ogle the goods at our Working Waterfront. [ Robin Dudley
2 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Published by the
Port Townsend Publishing Company 226 Adams St., Port Townsend WA 98368 (360) 385-2900 (360) 385-3422 (fax) Email contact: (First initial, last name)@ptleader.com Newsroom: news@ptleader.com Patrick J. Sullivan, managing editor. Allison Arthur, assistant editor. Robin Dudley, arts editor. Nicholas Johnson, reporter Copy editors: Catherine Reeder, Sunny Parsons, Angelica Garcia Marketing: ads@ptleader.com Catherine Brewer, marketing director. Jen Clark, Ken Hulick, Katie Kowalski Classifieds: classifieds@ptleader.com Donna Rosmaier, director. Kaye Bailey, Nancy Fitch, Janay Collins Circulation: subscriptions@ptleader.com Susan Jackson, Steve Peters, Ron Germeau Leader Reader Project: Jennifer James Wilson Leader Grafix & Digital Marketing: Sara Radka Production: production@ptleader.com Sara Radka, director. Chris Hawley, Marian Roh, Drew Elicker, Christopher Overman Administration: Scott Wilson, Publisher Fred Obee, General Manager Bookkeepers: Elizabeth Laing, Betty Grewell
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Port of PT wants your business By Patrick J. Sullivan of the Leader
Welcome to the Port of Port Townsend, the largest publicowned boatyard in Washington State. Above and beyond having the gold standard of being in a prime location, the Port of Port Townsend also offers competitive rates, improved customer service, and unmatched access to marine trades professionals. So says Larry Crockett, the public port district’s executive director since 1999. “We’re on the north end of Puget Sound, which makes us the first stop for vessels coming out of Alaska,” Crockett noted, “and that much closer for boats heading out.” Even with an increase for 2015 in vessel haulout and lay-day rates, “we are still in the bottom third” in terms of cost among regional harbors, Crockett noted. “We are competitive because we have some of the lowest rates you can find anywhere in the Northwest,” Crockett said. The public-owned Port district operates the Port Townsend Boat Haven, with 17 to 19 acres of boat storage, two haul-out docks, recreational and commercial moorage and an industrial park for marine trades and other businesses. At the other end of Port Townsend, there is Point Hudson Marina, with moorage and other business ventures. The Herb Beck Marina in Quilcene and Jefferson County International Airport are other Port operations. The Port operates three mobile boat hoists in Port Townsend: two that can handle 75 US ton vessels (one modified so it fits inside buildings), and one that handles 300 US ton vessels. With the heavy haul out, boat width is often more critical than weight: the lift pier allows a maximum vessel width of 32 feet. “The biggest draw is not just the size of our lifts and the volume we can handle, it’s also the 450 marine trades workers in and around the yard,” Crockett said. “Whatever work you’re looking for on your vessel, there is a 99 percent chance you can get it done here. That’s great for owners who intend to do the work themselves, then find when they get into it that they need some speciality help.” Steel, wood, fiberglass, composite: the tradespeople here can build new or fix old. Electronics, canvass and rigging, refrigeration
The Port of Port Townsend made 1,927 mobile-boat hoist trips (boats out of the water into the boatyard, and boats out of the yard and into the water) in 2014. There were 281 trips with the 300-ton heavy haul out (pictured) and 1,646 trips with the two smaller hoists. File photo by Patrick J. Sullivan
and plumbing: those skills are found here, too. The local marine trades cater to commercial and pleasure craft, new customers and repeat business. Looking into 2015, January’s numbers for the heavy lift were ahead of January 2014 statistics
RECREATIONAL BOATS
Statewide, data indicates the recreational boat business peaked in 2006 and has not recovered to that level, Crockett said. However, 2014 brought more recreational boat business to Port Townsend than commercial craft. Many factors come in to play, Crockett noted. Commercial vessels don’t haul out every year, and there is a smaller customer base. Recreational boats may be hauled out several times a year, or at least every year, and moorage demand is still strong here. The Port’s moorage numbers from December 2014 indicate that 287 of 299 slips were occupied (96 percent) and of the 3,806 feet of linear dock space (commercial, recreational and limited access) available, 3,641 feet (97 percent) were occupied. There are 166 people on waiting list for permanent moorage, the most being 40-foot pleasure (41), 30-foot pleasure (38), and 35foot pleasure (36). In contrast, Crockett said the Port of Port Angeles in Clallam County has a 40 percent va-
PORT TOWNSEND BOAT HAVEN HAUL-OUT OPERATIONS Hoist
2011
2012
2013
2014
75-ton
1,599
1,570
1,543
1,646
300-ton
247
282
314
281
TOTAL
1,846
1852
1,857
1,927
Source: Port of Port Townsend POINT HUDSON MARINA NIGHTLY GUESTS Year
2011
2012
2013
2014
TOTAL
4,981
5,097
5,195
4,554
Source: Port of Port Townsend
cancy for recreational permanent moorage. Most of the Port’s “transient” recreational moorage is at Point Hudson Marina downtown. Point Hudson transient moorage numbers declined in 2014. With lower fuel prices in 2015, Crockett noted that every summer weekend in 2015 already has a yacht club visit booked, although that does not mean every transient slip is taken, especially mid-week. While transient moorage at Point Hudson declined in 2014, recreational vehicle visits were way up and “2015 should be even bigger,” Crockett estimated, due to lower fuel prices. The Port statistics show 7,414 nightly RV guests in 2013, and a record of 7,965 nightly guests in 2014. The Port has upgraded its reservation system which used to be calendar year only. Now, customers may reserve transient moorage or RV space a year in advance. “If you are a boater or an RVer
at Point Hudson, we’re as good a value as I know of in Puget Sound,” Crockett noted. “The location is beautiful, and we want the visits because it is an economic driver for downtown.”
BOATYARDS
In terms of boatyard options, there are fewer than ever before. “The number of boatyards in Puget Sound has decreased by 30 percent over 10 years,” Crockett said, attributing the loss of smaller, usually familyowned yards that could not keep up with the state and federal permit requirements. Port of Port Townsend officials are focused on doing what it takes to adjust to the environmental rules required, particularly runoff from stormwater and boat washdown. “I don’t see a new marina being built on Puget Sound, anywhere,” Crockett said. “Due to shoreline rules, I don’t even
4 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
think [the Port] could establish a new boat ramp. The shoreline management rules are that strict.” The Port does expect to add a second lane to the Boat Haven’s public launch ramp, if the 2015 state Legislature leaves intact the funding (generated by gas sales to boaters) that could pay for $350,000 of the estimated $500,000 boat ramp project. If the grant money comes through, Crockett hopes to do the work in the fall of 2015. There are many people who trailer their small boats rather than pay for moorage, especially for seasonal ventures like fishing and sport crabbing. The Port offers special deals to crabbers, for example, who can fit in the Boat Haven’s “limited access” moorage areas and can pay by the week, rather than take a boat in and out twice a day to deliver and retrieve crab pots. In terms of overall operations, Crockett notes that in January 2015, the state Auditor’s Office issued another clean audit. The state audits the Port every two years. “For the 10th time in a row, 20 years total, we had no audit findings,” Crockett said. “We do our best to be good stewards of the public’s money, and provide excellent value and service to our customers.” Learn more at portofpt.com, or call 385-0656.
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The more the merrier at Northwest Sails & Canvas VERSATILE SAIL, RIGGING & CANVAS SHOP LETS CLIENTS HELP By Robin Dudley of the Leader
To get to the sail and rigging loft of Northwest Sails and Canvas, one must walk through a boat shop, past long workbenches, large band saws and sawdust smells. That’s because Sean and Inger Rankins’ sail and rigging loft is located on the waterfront campus of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock. “Although we run a full-service sail and rigging loft under our own label, we are heavily based in education,” Sean said. Sean is the sailmaker; his wife Inger specializes in and runs the marine canvas side of their business. At her shop, located in Uptown Port Townsend, she designs and builds carefully fitted covers and cushions for all types of boats. She also makes covers, from small covers like mast boots up to full-boat covers, and everything from big bimini tops to small dinghy covers, and dodgers, too. Expert help is provided by Kay Robinson, who runs the sail repair side of the business, and Leah Kefgen, who has worked with them on sailmaking and many special projects since 2002. “We do a lot of re-cuts, alterations and conversions,” Sean said. “Some of [the sails] just need TLC thrown at them to get them through. So we do a lot of help upgrading people’s sails, to help get them offshore, or get them through a few more seasons until they’re ready for new sails.” Northwest Sails and Canvas is also unusual in that they make sails for such a variety of purposes: offshore sails for cruisers, racing sails, offshore racing sails, sails for dinghies – plus all the myriad kinds of marine canvas and upholstery – plus rigging. “We make everything from ultramodern high-tech sails to very traditional sails,” Sean said, “along with our full-service marine canvas products.” Unlike most marine trades specialists, Sean offers to let customers participate. “Every bid I’ve sent out for the last 14 years, I’ve invited them to come and be a part of our building their sails.”
Inger Rankins and Rupert work at the sewing machine in the Northwest Sails and Canvas sail loft, located at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock. Photo by Robin Dudley
“We do a lot of what you might call free consultation, but it’s really about helping them get their full potential.” Sean Rankins Northwest Sails & Canvas
People are surprised when he offers them this option, and they often take him up on it – the skills and knowledge on offer are highly valuable for offshore sailors, racers or anyone else who hauls on a halyard to harness the wind. His aim is to get people out sailing, and to better understand the design and building of their sails. This doesn’t mean the process takes longer. “We’re just so used to [teaching] that it doesn’t
slow us down.” They also have, over five consecutive winter quarters, taught a course in sailmaking, rigging, and marine canvas under the umbrella of the boat school. Sean and Inger have brought in other local expert instructors and lecturers, a laundry list of names evoking the astounding maritime skill and talent in East Jefferson County: Carol Hasse, Brion Toss, Kit Africa, Matt Fahey, Sugar Flanagan, Wayne and Nahja Chimenti, Sandy Goodall and many others over the years.
WORLD TRAVELERS
Sean started making sails in 1976. After university, he moved to San Diego and ended up working at a boatyard across the street from the home loft of North Sails. He “pestered the loft manager for six months” until they gave him a job. “By 1978 they were sending me off to the East Coast and Europe to work on sails for them … I never came back.”
He ended up traveling around the world doing sailmaking and rigging, plus a little ski bumming and beach bumming. He first met Inger on a ferry in Greece in 1983. Conditions were really rough, “and everyone else was feeding the fish” but he and Inger, who sat enjoying the ride over bread, olives and wine. “This girl doesn’t get seasick and can really hold her liquor,” Sean recalled. Years later, they ran into each other by accident in a railway station in Munich, met up together for the first time later in London, then skied in Austria, and years later traveled together in Asia. Inger, who is Norwegian, was on her way home once from Hong Kong and decided to stop in Port Townsend “to see Sean because he had ended up here.” That was in 1989. Together they ended up staying much longer than they had expected. Inger has been on and around boats her whole life, from small wooden double-enders to larger
6 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
fishing boats, pleasure craft and kayaks. “I have never lived more than two kilometers from the water,” she said. “I don’t know if I could ever live without it.” She worked for Ellen Black at the Artful Dodger from 19901998, then started doing canvas work out of her own home when her son Jonas started kindergarten. For years, Sean and Inger have been regular sights on the bay in their double-ended Norwegian keelboat, Havhesten (Norwegian for “seahorse”) which they brought from Norway in 1992. Now the sail more often in their larger Danish 38M2(superscript 2!) Spidsgatter, called Cito. Kefgen is also a frequent sailor. She learned from the bosun on a Norwegian sailtraining bark, the Statsraad Lehmkuhl, when she was 18. “He taught me how to use a palm and needle and I folSee NW Sails, Page 8▼
Schooner Adventuress’ ‘whiskey plank’ celebration At Haven Boatworks in the Port of Port Townsend, shipwrights, crew and volunteers gathered
for a “whiskey plank” celebration on March 7, 2014, capping a five-year restoration of the 1913 schooner Adventuress, used by Sound Experience for sail training and education focused on preserving the marine environment. Pictured are (from left) Kiwi Ferris, Elizabeth Becker, Angus and Brad Seamans, George Dockstader, Capt. Joshua Berger, Matthew Shaw, Julia Maynard, Ken Greff, Caitlin O’Morchoe, Capt. Daniel Evans, Serena Village, Lennard Noller, Josh Ingram, Katie Guiliano, Bob Downes, Stephen Gale, Nate Seward, Chris “Zeal” Chimenti, Alea Robertson, Zach Simonson-Bond, Dylan McKay, Alex Nelson and Leland Gibson. Photo by Robin Dudley
Maritime community gathering place, education center, and home of:
RACE TO ALASKA
Northwest Maritime Center 431 Water Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 360.385.3628 x104
nwmaritime.org 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 7
The Northwest Sails and Canvas sail and rigging loft is located at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock. Submitted photo
NW Sails does it all ▼Continued from page 6
lowed him around the rig,” she said. On a Danish ship, the Georg Stage, she learned traditional marlinespike seamanship, skills like splicing wire and other rigging methods, and also helped hand-stitch a crojack sail, on deck. When she came to Port Townsend, she brought the ditty bag she had made to Carol Hasse and asked for a job. Hasse said yes. In his book “The Sailmaker’s Apprentice,” Emiliano Marino explains how to make a bucketshaped ditty bag using traditional techniques, such as use of a sailmaker’s palm and needle, worm, parcel, serve, splice and seize rope. Marino donated all his old tools to NW Sails for education, including split fids, dies, cutters and mallets, on the condition that Kefgen go get them from his relatives’ barn in Leeds, Maine, which she did. Kefgen has had her own canvas business, Best Coast Canvas, in the PT Boat Haven since 2002, the same year she started subcontracting with NW Sails & Canvas. Now, Leah, along with Sean and Inger, teaches a marlinespike seamanship class in which students make their own ditty bags.
COLLABORATION IS KEY
“People work with me, not for me,” Sean said. “Since 2002, Northwest Sails and Canvas has been a collaboration, with clients, people who work with us, with nonprofits, with other businesses. They encourage sailingrelated educational organizations to contact them about
“Every bid I’ve sent out for the last 14 years, I’ve invited them to come and be a part of our building their sails.” Sean Rankins Northwest Sails & Canvas
sailmaking, rigging, or sailrepair programs. “We really try to get nonprofits and private yacht clubs and sailing associations to think about doing their maintenance in fall and winter,” he said, when things are less busy; spring and summer are his busy season. Groups can come to the Port Hadlock sail loft and learn alongside Sean and his team to build or repair their sails or marine canvas. The loft’s location and their collaboration with the boat school also dramatically enhances their potential, as spars and other woodwork can be done onsite, as well as metal fabrication. In collaboration with the boat school, Northwest Sails has taught at several big educational venues, doing several big projects involving sailing education organizations that have combined building sails, rigging and marine canvas. In 2006, they built an entire suit of new sails for the brig Lady Washington, a replica of an 18th century brig that’s used for sail training, and a com-
“We make everything from ultramodern high-tech sails to very traditional sails,” said Sean Rankins of Northwest Sails & Canvas. Submitted photo
plete new suit for its companion ship Hawaiian Chieftain. That was such a big project, they shared it with Force 10 Sails, run by another local expert in sail-related collaboration, Wayne Chimenti. Many of the sails of the PTbased schooner Martha were built through winter-quarter education at NW Sails. Holly Kays and Anne Aldrich of Martha have collaborated with NW Sails & Canvas in the building of Martha’s new sails.
Other sail training organizations that brought their vessels to NW Sails & Canvas were the Spirit of Dana Point, a schooner owned by the Ocean Institute; the Los Angeles Maritime Institute, and Sound Experience, which runs the PTbased schooner Adventuress, to name a few. In 2002, members of the S’Klallam tribe, ages 7 to 70, came to make traditional spritsails for dugout canoes. “We built their sprits and their masts here [at the boat
8 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
school], and two sails,” Sean said. “There was music and great food, and these kids were building the sails here with their elders.” In the 2010-2011 winter quarters, Northwest Sails, in collaboration with the boat school, built all of the sails and canvas, as well as all the spars, hardware, blocks, standing and running rigging, for an English ketch called Lindy, owned by Bill Schatenberg of Juneau. A couple from New York also took Sean up on his offer to let them help build their new suit of sails. They spent five weeks here helping build an entire new suit of sails for their Alajuela 38 double-ended cutter, bound for sailing around the Caribbean and South America. They now live in Uruguay, Sean said. Sean is one of those personable guys that knows and likes everybody. He makes friends with his clients, goes sailing with them to try out the new sails, and offers suggestions about rigging while doing so. “We give a lot away,” he said. “We do a lot of what you might call free consultation, but it’s really about helping them get their full potential” out of the sails and rigging he’s designed and built for them. He’s proud of the accountability and personal service the business offers. “We’re still here treading water,” he said. “It’s amazing we can still earn our living doing this. We can still make beautiful handmade sails in America.” Contact Northwest Sails and Canvas at 360-385-7141 (loft) or 360-301-3204 (Sean’s cell), 360385-5416 (canvas shop), email nwcanvas@olympus.net, or visit nwsailsandcanvas.com.
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Pride in professionalism CUSTOMERS CRUISE FROM OUT OF TOWN FOR PT RIGGING’S EXPERTISE By Robin Dudley of the Leader
At the boatyard’s west end is Port Townsend Rigging, recognizable by the enormous hawser strung along the chain-link fence separating the Port of Port Townsend property from Sims Way. PT Rigging, owned by Lisa Vizzini and Dan Kulin, employs seven people full-time all year round; there were 17 items on their jobs list in mid-January, a number that grows to the 20s in the busier summer season. “Our employees are awesome,” Vizzini said. “They understand our brand and strive very hard to meet it.” PT Rigging caters to sailboat owners. “Absolutely to sailors and only to sailors,” Kulin said. They’ll work on anything from 10 to 80 feet, but typical boats are 40 to 45 feet. They call these “furniture 40s,” Kulin said. “Typical client is a couple in their early to mid 60s, getting ready to retire from jobs they’ve had their whole life, and they’re getting ready to take off on the cruise of their lifetime,” he said. They work closely with Carol Hasse of Port Townsend Sails on a lot of projects, and with other marine trades businesses in town. “Education is a big part of our job,” Vizzini added. They help new boat owners learn to use their boat. “We have a holistic view of what our clients should have – confidence and knowledge in their boat,” Kulin said. Another specialty is recommissioning old masts: strip, refurbish, mitigate the corrosion, upgrade and replace worn parts. “It looks like a brand-new spar when we’re done.” Recommissioning “is our bread and butter. Putting new rigs in and replacing masts.” They have a lot of repeat customers, referrals, and some repeat boats. “We could have a two-and-a-half-million dollar business in Seattle,” Kulin said. “We’re the only custom aluminum mast-builder between [Sidney, British Columbia] and California,” Vizzini said.
Lisa Vizzini and Dan Kulin have owned Port Townsend Rigging for 15 years, and have been leaders in the local marine trades industry. Photo by Robin Dudley
“We’re the only custom aluminum mast-builder between [Sidney, British Columbia] and California.” Lisa Vizzini Port Townsend Rigging
“We have an extensive marketing plan and we work it,” Vizzini said. It includes a website, porttownsendrigging.com, monthly ads in 48 North and
other publications, and “about 500 feet of boat show space in the Seattle Boat Show,” the equivalent of 4-5 booths, Kulin said. “We bring a lot of business into town through that,” said Vizzini, who also speaks at the Seattle Boat Show, at yacht clubs and other organizations. “Our work is 80 percent from out of town,” Kulin said. “We’ll make arrangements for moorage, transportation,” and recommend places for boat owners to stay. Kulin and Vizzini prefer clients to bring their boats to Port Townsend. “We’ll travel to look, to estimate. I’ll deliver rigging,” Vizzini said. “But we try not to work away from our shop.” “Doing that out of your
trunk or your truck, it’s just about impossible to get that last five percent that’s so important,” Kulin said. Kulin and Vizzini bought their business from Frank and Patty Briggs in December 1999. “We bought this business because we wanted a shop,” Vizzini said. Kulin designed the two-floor, 5,200-squarefoot building and Mark Grant of Grant Steel Buildings built it, on property leased from the Port. “It was a significant leap of faith,” Vizzini said. “We’d like to see the community be more on board with supporting the marine trades by investing in infrastructure for our community,” she said.
10 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
“People tend to do things kind of temporarily.” The building is “super green,” Vizzini said, and a clean, neat, safe working environment. “We want to raise the professional bar within the marine trades community,” Kulin said. “We fight against the idea that it’s funky here and laid back,” Vizzini said. “Our clients are professional working people who have high expectations.” “Here, it’s widely accepted there can be junk against the fence and blue tarps blowing around,” Kulin said. “The boatyard can still be fun and funky, but a couple clicks up the ladder wouldn’t hurt.”
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1121 Water Street 360-385-9595 OPEN EVERY DAY 9am-7pm Mon-Sat & 10am-6pm Sundays
Boat work for the rest of us BUMS BIDDING TRIANGLE: ‘GOOD, FAST, CHEAP – PICK TWO’ By Robin Dudley of the Leader
Small-business ownership is not for the faint of heart. Joe vonVolkli is not in it for the money. He’s having a good time. He started Bottoms Up Marine Services (BUMS) in 2008, after five years working for the Port of Port Townsend driving the Travelift that hauls boats in and out of the water. “I saw a need for non-expensive, basic maintenance work,” said vonVolkli, who is 50 years old (“going on 13,” he said). He had been doing a lot of work on the side “to help fill out the college fund” for his three kids. “It got so I was doing so much side work, after-hours stuff, it got to where I had to make a choice,” he said. His wife, Kelly, works for the Jefferson County Health Department, so vonVolkli decided to go for it. “I decided to go out on my own and start BUMS,” he said. And he’s never had trouble getting clients. “I do no advertising, really,” he said. “All of my clients are return customers or referrals.” He has employed up to 13 workers in the summer, but averages four to six year-round. “We’re known as the ‘gether-done’ guys,” he said. “There’s a lot of extremely high-end, artistic work that gets done in this boatyard. But for your average customer, art is expensive.” He characterizes his average customer as “Bobby and Susie Bayliner,” middle-class people in search of basic, inexpensive maintenance on their un-fancy boats. “Bobby and Susie Baylin-
“The average medium-income boater needs a place they can go to get basic maintenance without paying an arm and a leg.” Joe vonVolkli Bottoms Up Marine Services
Joe vonVolkli (right) started Bottoms Up Marine Services in the Port Townsend Boat Haven seven years ago, and has employed Greg Adkins for most of that time. Photo by Robin Dudley
“All of my clients are return customers or referrals.” Joe vonVolkli Bottoms Up Marine Services Bottoms Up Marine Services’ no-nonsense office and shop occupy a small footprint in the Port of Port Townsend Boat Haven. Photo by Robin Dudley 12 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
er don’t have a lot of money, but they have an expensive hobby.” In the spring-summer peak season, BUMS does as many as three boats a week, known as “turn ‘em and burn ‘em” jobs – sanding and buffing and painting the hull of a small fiberglass recreational boat, getting the boats’ bottom clean as fast and cheaply as possible to allow the owners to go play on the water. BUMS also does bigger jobs; they’ll peel the entire gelcoat off the bottom and replace it. “General maintenance is our forte,” vonVolkli said. “We’ve pretty much gone from being the bottom job guys to being full-service repair.” The BUMS often work concurrently with other businesses and marine trades people. “I work alongside a lot of other businesses here,” although “we’re not everybody’s cup of tea,” vonVolkli admitted. “I don’t have guys that walk around in lab coats. We do some very nice high-end work. But we’re laborers.” He also claimed, “BUMS hauls out as many boats, if not more, than any other business at this Port.” VonVolkli has no problem finding people to work for him. A half-dozen guys show up every week asking for a job, he said. “I’ll usually hire them for a couple of days” as a trial; the work is not everyone’s cup of tea. “You’re never not holding a tool over your head. It’s physically very difficult. ... To sand
and paint boats is a job, not a career. It’s just labor. It’s not something you aspire to.” He also has a lot of “dropin” employees, such as guys who are welders who will work for BUMS for a couple of weeks at a time in between welding jobs. His foreman, Greg Adkins, is “a prime example of how I find guys.” Adkins showed up every day for a week “in his work clothes and boots,” asking for work, vonVolkli said. Finally, on Friday, “I said, ‘You’re a tenacious bastard. I’ll see you on Monday.’” It was the right decision. Adkins has worked for BUMS for five of the company’s seven years. “He’s just a good man. He’s just a solid human being,” vonVolkli said. “He’s very conscientious about what he does.” VonVolkli said he’ll be happy to just keep the business going for about another 10 years. In the meantime, he’s enjoying his job. “The average mediumincome boater needs a place they can go to get basic maintenance without paying an arm and a leg,” he said. He’ll sometimes lose money on a job, if he personally likes a customer. “I like the people I work for. I’m not a gouger.” He compares his job to a television sitcom, with his employees as the core cast and his clients an ever-changing cast of supporting characters who he finds endlessly entertaining. “The BUMS bidding formula is a triangle,” he said. “Good, fast, cheap – pick two.” VonVolkli is a council member with the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association, a conglomerate of businesses. “We’re currently 56 businesses,” he said, “that stand together if there’s a problem in the yard ... It’s an important organization to have around just to represent the working class in this boatyard.” The industry is “very fickle,” he said. It’s difficult because the costs of materials and everything else goes up every year, but people’s incomes don’t. “It’s financially devastating as a business owner, but your heart’s full. Heart full, wallet empty. I’ve been that way my whole life. Money’s just a piece of paper. If money makes you who you are, you’re probably a jerk.”
TWO DAYS e Fre MOORAGE
in Historic Port Townsend
WITH FREE ESTIMATE Tour our full service boatyard, receive a free estimate for refit or repair and walk a few steps to lunch in our National Historic District. Make your appointment and reservation today!
Email info@se us today: amarin eco.co m
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Jim Maupin has insured Sound Experience’s sail training schooner Adventuress for the past 20 years. Hundreds of boaters rely on Jim for his personalized service and marine experience for all their insurance needs.
Call Jim for a quote today! www.homersmith.com • 888-433-0031 AUTO • HOME • BUSINESS • MARINE • LIFE
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Port Townsend: 360-385-3711 • Sequim: 360-683-4970
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CR A FTSM A NSHIP • 12-week Foundation Course - Fall and Winter
“Our style sets us apart” OUPV (6-pack) & Masters 100 Ton Sailing and Assistance Towing Renewals, Application Preparation 1st Aid/CPR & Physicals Let our experience guide you from start to finish... • Learn rather than Cram! • Over 2000 graduates since 1987 • Our own textbooks & exams • Evening classes
• One and two week classes - Spring and Summer • Weekend Classes - year-round • Learn from Jim Tolpin, Garrett Hack, Peter Galbert and other renowned local and national woodworkers • Wonderful shop space at Fort Worden • Great local accommodations • Questions? Call us at 360.344.4455
Celestial Navigation Class! Come meet the stars Classes begin at the Northwest Maritime Center Port Townsend
Port Townsend / Seattle
360-385-4852
Visit our website for information & registration:
www.usmaritime.us 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 13
No place in the Pacific Northwest has a better reputation than Port Townsend for the work done on wooden boats, and a full range of marine trade skills are available here, including metalwork, fiberglass and composite. Photo by Rachel Ganapoler
Michael “Barto” Barton, Alex Lockwood and Sonya Baumstein work in Port Townsend’s Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC) boat shop on a 23-foot boat that Baumstein plans to row solo from Choshi, Japan, to San Francisco, California. Starting in mid-April 2015. Photo by Robin Dudley
The marine trades community is a big part of the annual Wooden Boat Festival, Port Townsend’s largest event each year. Last year, Capt. John “Sugar” Flanagan (left) steered the schooner Alcyone out of the crowded Point Hudson Marina for the annual sail-by. At right is the historic steam vessel Virginia V. The next Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival is Sept. 11-13, 2015. Photo by Robin Dudley
In the Yard
The Port of Port Townsend operates two Travelift mobile boat hoists. Pictured is the 70-ton unit, the smaller of the two; the larger one can haul boats weighing as much as 330 tons. Photo by Robin Dudley
“Port Townsend is known for having good foundries,” said Pete Langley, whose Port Townsend Foundry has, since 1979, produced custom and production marine and industrial hardware that’s used all over the world, from the blocks on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Eagle to this load of new stanchions. The foundry also makes curvy and comfortable oversize “bench cleats.” Photo by Robin Dudley
14 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
ALASKA FISHING GOLD RUSH of the 1980 s Sunrise Coffee Co. & The Port of Port Townsend present a Gallery Walk
B&W PHOTO E XHIB I T
CL ASSIC K NOT WORK
Covering for tillers & wheels, soft fenders, mats, swim ladders and other salty sailor stuff. For illustrated catalog send stamped, self addressed envelope to:
The Knotted Line 9908 168th Ave., N.E. Redmond, WA 98052-3122 or call (425) 885-2457 www.theknottedline.com
A Gritty Look at a Gritty Life
JANA M. SUCHY PHOTOGRAPHY Port Admin. Bldg. Opening Reception & Refreshments (in the Boat Haven Marina behind Sim’s Way Safeway Gas Station) for more info: Sunrise Coffee Co. 360.385.4117
We have the right tools for the job!
No matter what the purpose of your voyage may be, we have the supplies for you.
Welding Equipment Safety & Industrial Supplies Equipment Rental & Repair Gas Delivery & Cylinder Exchange
Visit us!
847-B W. Park Ave. Port Townsend
(360) 385-9533
centralwelding.com
PORT TOWNSEND YACHT CLUB 2503 Washington Street Port Townsend, WA 98368 • www.ptyc.net
Bremerton Henery Hardware 3449 Wheaton Way (360) 824-5047
Kingston Henery Hardware 10978 Hwy 104, Suite 107 (360) 297-3366
Port Townsend Henery Hardware 218 Sims Way (360) 385-5900
Photo by Nicholas Johnson
OPENING DAY OF BOATING IN PORT TOWNSEND: Join in the parade with your boat or watch from the N.W. Maritime Center dock on May 2, 2015. Watch for more information. MEMBERSHIP: Membership in the Port Townsend Yacht Club is open to anyone with a love of the water and boating in the beautiful Puget Sound region. Members enjoy friendship, access to local knowledge, social events and monthly evening meetings on the second Tuesday of the month September – June. Cost: $180 Initiation Fee & $200 Annual Dues CLUBHOUSE RENTAL: The PTYC building is on the waterfront and available to rent for parties, meetings and events. The clubhouse has a large function room with kitchen. For information on rentals contact Rear Commodore at (503) 869-1236 or ptycRearCommodore@gmail.com.
2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader 15
JOIN THE FUN
PORT OF PORT TOWNSEND
THE IS VERY PROUD OF THE REPUTATION IT HAS EARNED OVER THE YEARS AS BEING THE PREMIER PORT FOR MARINE MANUFACTURING, REPAIR AND RESTORATION. Whether you are looking for superior craftsmanship from one of our 50 marine trades or looking for a do-it-yourself yard that has it all, the Port of Port Townsend is the place to be.
70-, 75- AND 330-TON
LIFT CAPACITY EASY ACCESS TO OVER 100 VENDORS OFFERING A FULL RANGE OF SERVICES AND SUPPLIES.
P.O. Box 1180 Port Townsend, WA 98368 (360) 385-2355 • (800) 228-2803 www.portofpt.com • Email: info@portofpt.com
16 2015 WORKING WATERFRONT ✪ The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader