Current Boats

Abishag was built by Edmund Lincoln Devreaux in Vallejo California and launched in 1970.
Lincoln was a retired shipwright from Bear Island, US Navy Yard.

She is a modeled from a Monterey boat, but has no clipper bow, which the usual form. Her straight stem is better for punching through the short chop in the north SF bay, and some Montereys have historically been built in a similar manner.

Abishag has bent oak frames, yellow cedar planking, and a fir and teak deck. She is fastened with galvanized nails and bronze screws.

Lincoln also moved the deck houses together. This made more deck space and better placement for the single cylinder Hicks make-and-break engine, which has alway been her engine. The Yuba Hicks engines, from Sausalito, Ca. were among the most popular and dependable engines on the West Coast, when they were built in the 1920’s. Abishag’s was an early Hicks, from 1912: 8-11 HP, 6.5 “ bore. 7.5” stroke, 244 c.i. cylinder bore, 360 rpm @ hull speed, 6 knots. Gasoline fuel consumption at hull speed: 3 quarts/ hour.

Abishag was fit out to fish and did, for a season, before she was trucked to Anacortes.
In the late 80’s, with the builder’s passing, she was sold to John Anderson in Bellingham.
She cruised and fished the Salish Sea until John’s passing, when she was laid up, for sale at Colony Wharf, Bellingham.

Elton H., who was the boat’s original engineer and installed the Hicks, suggested that Emerald Marine partner with him and save the vessel. Free boats not with standing, work begun in fall of 2022. Together we have: moved the vessel back to Anacortes, replaced the the after stem and a significant amount of the after planking and the garboard strakes, rebuilt the steering fittings, removed and rebuilt the Hicks, installed new tanks and wiring, and more.

We look forward to fishing, cruising and teaching about old engines and shipwrighting as we go along…

She’s an 18 foot Sportboat with a 8 foot beam. She has a 26’6″ aluminum mast with a 10 foot boom and a 5 foot bowsprit. She was made using Okume plywood with a clear cedar cabin.
Comes with an outboard motor and trailer.

The Air Snipe (ex SC-1068) was laid down Dec 10th of 1942 as PC-1068 in Camden NJ by Mathis Yacht Building Company (later became John Trumpy & Sons); she was completed March 26th, 1943 and then reclassified and commissioned into the USN on April 13th, 1943 as SC-1068.

All told a series of small shipyards built 438 examples of this design, the SC-497 class subchaser : out of the 438 vessels of this type it is believed that less than 5 are currently still afloat! They were armed with a variety of ordnance, but the most common arrangement fielded a set of two mousetrap anti submarine projectors (four 37lb torpex filed rockets each), a forward gun (40mm Bofors, 3″-50 cal or 3″-23 cal), three 20mm Oerlikon auto cannons aft of the house, two K-gun depth charge launchers, and various roll off depth charge racks (Some smaller 30 cal and 50 cal machine guns have been reported as field fitted as well).

She served in the South Pacific during WWII conducting anti submarine patrols and assisting with convoy escort and screening of surface ships. The role of the Subchasers was expanded during this time to support numerous amphibious landings, provide offshore screening, and landing craft / beach control. After her time in the tropics, she was returned to the US mainland where she was decommissioned and transferred to the USCG on Feb 26th 1946 as an Air Class Rescue Cutter (WAVR).

The USCG used 70 of these vessels to perform search and rescue work as well as general “plane guard” for the large numbers of cargo planes and vessels returning home from overseas after WWII. Then on the 27th of Jan 1948 she was declared surplus and sold to a private owner.

After passing through three initial owners she came under the care of Albert Halvorsen on Sept 25th 1958, she was officially transferred into the Boyer Towing Fleet on May 13th 1959. Where she provided barge and freight service to Southeast Alaska. Becoming one of the very first vessels to establish barge service to Ketchikan, AK from Seattle, WA.

After living the life of a working tug for a number of years she was replaced in the fleet with larger and more modern ocean going tugs, however, she had gained a champion in her time as a civilian work boat. Kent Halvorsen became her biggest advocate and continued to care for the Air Snipe as she shifted roles from work boat to company “yacht”.

Keeping up on the maintenance and making repairs as the vessel aged; Kent oversaw the preservation and restoration of the Air Snipe for over half a century. In this time the Air Snipe became a fixture in Ward Cove and Ketchikan, AK; unfortunately as time marches on, Kent ended up having to spend less and less time on the vessel until his health finally prevented him from stepping on-board any longer. Kent’s son Pete had taken over the mantle of caretaker for much of this time as it became more difficult for Kent to fully care for the Air Snipe. Finally in Nov. of 2023 Kent ended up passing.

This left Boyer Halverson, namesake of Boyer towing with a dilemma; the Air Snipe needed someone that would keep her active and be able to maintain and care for the vessel. The thought of vetting new owners and finding the right fit seemed impossible. Through a series of happenstance Matt Levy & Kelly Thynes, who were actively involved in restoring the 1943 WWII 83ft USCG Cutter USCG-11 (83366) (which was a rescue boat off Omaha Beach during the D-Day Landings) were connected with the Halvorsens through mutual friends in Ketchikan, and after some discussion a plan was formed.

The Air Snipe was to head south again to allow the general public to explore and experience a very rare piece of WWII history which has also created it’s own Southeast Alaskan legacy after the war. As a tribute to Kent Halvorsen and all the hard working employees at Boyer Towing, who have preserved and expanded the legacy of the Air Snipe there is no better way to say thank you than to continue the work and share her story.

Sparkman and Stephens designed the 48’ auxiliary cutter ALEMBIC to give her maximum windward ability (design #1479). Built by Chapman and Kalayjian, in Costa Mesa, CA, she was launched at Newport Beach in 1960, for the original owner, Dr. Gordon Alles.

Construction is mahogany, strip planked, over white oak frames. The box-beam mast is Sitka spruce and the boom Douglas Fir. Original trim is Honduras mahogany, much of which has been replaced with Sapele. She is bronze fastened and has bronze floors atop the deadwood. Decks are fiberglass covered ⅝” plywood. Below deck, ALEMBIC has been repowered with a Westerbeke 62 hp diesel and she carries 60 gallons of fuel and 140 gallons of water in monel tanks. Pulpit, pushpit and stanchions are all monel on bronze bases.

She has accommodations for seven, with two in the owner’s stateroom forward, and full berths for five guests. In the galley, which is situated aft on the portside, there is a propane stove with an oven, and an ice box. The light build, simple interior and expansive sail lockers are indicative of the owner’s focus on ocean racing. Dr. Alles, a research chemist, named the vessel for the ancient tools of alchemists called Alembics. These were used to derive the essences of perfumes from flowers or spirits from wines. Similarly, ALEMBIC will serve to distill the essence of sailing for all those aboard.

Alice is an N.G. Herreshoff design that was built in Maine, lived in a lake in Pennsylvania, and is now ready for the bay. A great day sailer with a lead keel, she offers both fun and stability.

ANJA is based on a gaff rigged Bristol pilot cutter designed by Roger Long in 1976. Launched in 2014 on Saltspring Island, BC. Hull built by David Betts and the cabin, rig and interior built by Arnt Arntzen in 2020.
ANJA is the cover girl on Wooden Boat Magazine Jan/Feb 2023 with a fabulous article by Larry Cheek and photos by Dale Simonson and co-owner Valerie Arntzen. She won Best Pocket Cruiser in Victoria Classic Boat Festival 2023.

Her hull is constructed of mahogany planks on oak frames fastened with bronze screws. Mast is hollow bird’s mouth Sitka spruce. Much of the hardware is made from recycled bronze. Cockpit seats are recycled old growth fir church pews.
She is powered by a brand new Beta Marine diesel 20 horse with new 14” auto prop. There is a two burner propane stove, ice box, plenty of storage and a large double berth for comfortable cruising.

ANJA has cruised the west coast as far north as Alert Bay and Broken Islands on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
She is exciting to sail with plenty of strings to pull with 4 sails including the topsail which sets over 500 square feet

For more than a century, Argonaut II sailed the waters of the Pacific Northwest and most famously served the remote native tribes and rural communities of British Columbia. Originally built as a corporate yacht for the Powell River Company in Vancouver, BC in 1922, the United Methodist Church purchased the boat in 1934 to serve as a Mission Boat until 1967. Originally named “Greta M,” the church rechristened the boat “Thomas Crosby IV” after a NW Missionary, and skippered by the famous Haida Chief Rev. Dr. Peter Kelly who was the first full-blooded Native American ordained in the United Church of Canada. Thomas Crosby IV operated as a fully-equipped hospital, servicing the remote lighthouses, canneries, logging camps, and isolated settlements, and carried more than 1000 patients a year. In 1967, the boat was renamed “Argonaut II” and has been a private yacht ever since, thankfully with many willing hands to continue its maintenance and upkeep.

Argonaut II was originally powered by a 3-cylinder Fairbanks Morse engine, but repowered in 1940 with an air-start 6-cylinder Gardner 6L3. The carvel-planked hull is made of 2 1/2″ Port Orford Cedar (and we are currently pulling original wood off the boat still in decent condition for its age). In 2023, local Port Townsend Shipwrights Peter Stein, Quillan Hunt, and Rowan Schatz supported a ten-week project replacing 37 Alaskan yellow cedar planks, 21 white oak frames, inner and outer sponson and purpleheart/ironbark guard on the Starboard side, as well as some modifications to the rudder and interior systems. The deck is made of fir, with a teak pilot house and teak railings. Below deck, the boat feels like a step back in time, maintained as it was during its times serving as a mission boat, with stained glass cabinets in the main salon, an aft state room with two bunks, and a forward stateroom ahead of the engine room.

Follow the ongoing projects, story, and adventure on YouTube and Instagram at mv_argonaut@

Avenger is in excellent condition. Has a new beta 38 hp only 300 hours. New lawfrance windlass ,new rocna anchor, new refrigeration, new force 10 heater with water coils to heat the boat, new furling, new cushions, she Sails fast and a very proud bow keeps her dry in heavy seas, hold 150 gallons of water and 120 gallons of fuel. Great for off shore trips. I’m selling because I bought a 1917 tug.

Badger (YAG-319) was one of ten wooden YAG-300 (Yard Auxiliary, General) vessels built for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) between 1953 and 1955. Built for use as auxiliary craft, Badger primarily served as an at-sea training platform for junior naval officers, boatswains, reserve personnel and Sea Cadets at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt.

BE HAPPY is a 21 foot Tolman Widebody Skiff built for fishing and overnight cruising. Built from marine plywood and encapsulated in epoxy and fiberglass she took a little more than 5 years to build. Covid slowed the build process and then there was being locked out of the shop space because the building was unsafe. BE HAPPY was finally move to my driveway where the build was completed.

The Hacker Boat Co is the oldest constructor of wooden motorboats in the world that is still building the same classic craft today as what that were in the early 20th century. Hacker Craft was the boat of choice by Henry Ford, J.W. Packard, the Dodge Brothers and many other industrial tycoons.

‘The Big Woody’ is a one of a kind handcrafted boat with over 2000 hours of master craftsmanship involved in its meticulous construction and impeccable mahogany hull.

A Northwest built version of a William Atkins “Rescue Minor” Article by James Thomas from Small Craft Advisor Magazine

For some years I’d heard stories about a boat an acquaintance of mine, Mark Nelson, a skilled carpenter and machinist had built to allow his wife Lark and he to take day trips on the Rivers and Lakes in Oregon. Knowing my interest in all things boats, my friend Lynn Fox, suggested I contact Lark to see the boat. Mark passed away a couple of years ago, and Lark was interested in my opinion related to selling the boat; so I called Lark.

She said it was a Rescue Minor, designed in the 1940s by William Atkins as a shallow water boat for rescues and salvage work. My usual interest is sailboats, but the name of a famous designer piqued my interest so we made arrangements for me to visit her in rural Washington County, Oregon outside Hillsboro. We’d look at the boat, she’d share some notes Mark had made during it’s construction and then we’d head into Hillsboro for pizza, beer, and some local jazz.

So on a Tuesday afternoon I drove out to Lark’s place. She’d pulled the boat, named Black Dogs out of it’s shelter where it has sat since Mark’s death. I could see the appeal to Mark in the design. With a big open unobstructed hull, there was plenty of room for taking friends on picnics and with the unusual shallow draft stern design with the prop tucked up into the hull, the boat would be able to navigate the shallow waters of the Columbia River estuary islands with ease and could be camped on in a pinch. I’d seen pictures of versions of this boat gussied up with center console and varnished decks, but Mark’s was the real deal; a simple, elegant, tiller steered open boat with mahogany coaming, but workboat finishes otherwise. Lark shared Mark’s notes after he’d completed the build and we headed to Hillsboro for pizza and jazz.

It’s always sad when someone lavishes years and countless hours on building a boat they hope will become longtime part of the family and their hopes are cut short by an untimely death. Later, when I’d had a chance to look over Mark’s notes, I was especially struck by the thought and effort he put into creating the powerplant for the boat as well as to translating Atkin’s drawings into this boat. Mark was a consummate craftsman who created a truly unusual historic craft I felt was worth sharing with my fellow small craft lovers. In that spirit, I’ll let Mark’s description of his boat and it’s engine build conclude this article.

ENGINE CHOICE AND MODIFICATIONS
A significant amount of my time building the boat was dedicated to the engine build. The boat as Atkin designed it was originally powered by a 63 cubic inch Atomic Four engine. I converted a 1988 Chevrolet Sprint 61 cubic inch, 3 cylinder engine for powering the boat. This is identical to the Suzuki from which the Sprint was derived. The engine turns a 10” x 13” three blade propeller through a ZF-10 reverse gear with a 1.8 to 1 reduction. The carburetor is a single downdraft Solex carburetor from a Volvo Penta outdrive. A Seacamp heat exchanger provides for fresh water cooling for the aluminum block, head, and exhaust manifold. A Vetus muffler takes some the noise out of the exhaust, although it is louder than I had hoped when the engine is run at higher power settings. The raw water pump is from a Kohler generator set, and an ignition-protected Leece-Neville alternator provides charging current. The Sprint engine has more power than the hull requires, so the engine runs at fairly low throttle settings. Fuel consumption is typically under 1 gph. I have seen 18 mph on the GPS, but the boat throws a lot of spray at that speed and the engine is annoyingly loud. 10 to 12 mph is a more comfortable cruising speed. For the first season, I ran the engine without a cover. Adding the engine cover reduced noise a good deal. “

USING BLACK DOGS:
“One of the pleasures of this boat is how easily and quietly it will slip along at about three knots. This is just right for keeping company with someone in a kayak or taking in the scenery in a backwater. The hull is so easily driven at low speeds that an electric motor could be an alternative if a limited range weren’t a problem.

This is a much different boat than a modern 20 ft. fiberglass inboard designed to pull wakeboarders or go for a Sunday drinking party. The area under the foredeck holds the anchor, extra life vests and sand chairs. The 11 gallon fuel tank, spare parts, extra lines, etc. are under the stern deck. The battery and tools are under the bench seat. Current formal seating accommodates the pilot and two passengers, anybody else gets a folding chair.

There are any number of improvements that could be made, but at this point I am content to use it as a day boat on the rivers and lakes here in western Oregon. I chose to build the boat using plywood plank on frame because I was reasonably confident of a successful outcome since I was familiar with the method, but it could also have been executed in stitch and glue or using welded aluminum construction. A light removable top would give some protection from the summer sun and extend the cool weather boating season and removable bunk boards would let us sleep on the boat easier

Laid up in 1970, launched in 2005, two brothers working at the Nanoose Shipyards in Nanaimo (Vancouver Island) built Blue Starr with Bill Garden’s blessing. Garden, who lived on Toad’s Landing – his personal island not far away from Nanaimo, may have even asked the brothers personally to finish out their Alaskan Yellow Cedar on Oak “Walloon” hull as a Schooner, as he had decided the lines would be better suited as a Schooner rather than the 89 Walloon Ketches that had been built around the world. Either way, his signature rests on the modified draft designs onboard, where the cabin and rigging were modified before construction. Unfortunately, shortly after launch in Port Alberni (yes, a conundrum as to why she was launched on the other side of the island), one of the brother’s passed away and the boat was donated to SALTS in Victoria BC, where it was eventually bought by Rayford Chew, who now owns Schooner Tyrone in Maine. Captain Alex bought her in early 2022, and has been living aboard and refitting her while charting future courses beyond Cape Flattery.