Facebook X-twitter Instagram Youtube
SUBSCRIBE
Magazine cover with large white yacht on it.
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • Boats
  • Podcasts
  • Maintenance
    • Refit and Upgrade
    • Marine Engines
    • Ask Professor Diesel
  • Voyaging
    • Destinations
    • Seamanship
  • Videos
  • Shop
  • Real Estate
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletter
  • Boats
  • Podcasts
  • Maintenance
    • Refit and Upgrade
    • Marine Engines
    • Ask Professor Diesel
  • Voyaging
    • Destinations
    • Seamanship
  • Videos
  • Shop
  • Real Estate

Boatbuilding, Downeast Style Gallery

Mount Desert Island, Maine, lies Downeast—about 100 miles northeast of Portland as the seagull flies. A century ago, most islanders made their living from the sea: fishing, lobstering, skippering yachts for "rusticators" (summer visitors), maybe a little bit of all three. In the winter the watermen built boats to use themselves or to sell. Today the descendants of those rugged old-timers
  • By Mike Smith
  • May 1, 2007
<p>Wilbur Yachts' customers include Billy Joel, Woods Hole, and even the Smithsonian.</p>

Wilbur Yachts’ customers include Billy Joel, Woods Hole, and even the Smithsonian.

At Ellis Boat Company, not every Downeaster it builds is a lobster boat.

Don Ellis and his Freisian horse, Deisha, in Southwest Harbor, Maine.

Here’s a scupper’s-eye view of boatbuilding at Ellis Boat Company.

Richard Stanley carries on the family tradition of building custom wood boats.

The Maine man himself: Ralph W. Stanley. Interesting to note: When he’s not building boats, he plays a mean fiddle.

Malcolm L. Pettegrow builds cold-molded wood and ‘glass Downeasters.

Mac Pettegrow.

Two yachts a-building at Wilbur.

Eric Clark of Marine Systems learned his trade from top Southwest Harbor builders, including Lee Wilbur.

Marine Systems also uses other local yards’ hulls, an approach shared by some builders worldwide.

SUBSCRIBE TO POWER & MOTORYACHT

SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Picture of Mike Smith

Mike Smith

  • Boats, Design, Photo Gallery

More Boats Design Photo Gallery

A side profile shot of a modern, white Sunseeker 82 Ocean luxury motor yacht cruising at speed across open water. The vessel features striking black-tinted window bands along its multi-deck hull and a black hardtop structure over its upper deck flybridge. It kicks up a substantial white spray and wake as it glides under a soft pink, purple, and gold sunset sky, with a British Red Ensign flag flying from the stern.

Sunseeker 82 Ocean

A medium shot from inside an enclosed boat helm station featuring a smiling, bearded man sitting at the steering wheel. He is looking off to the right, wearing blue-mirrored sunglasses, a blue baseball cap underneath a grey beanie, and a hooded blue digital-camouflage jacket. Large glass windows and an overhead skylight panel surround the cabin, offering a view out over choppy water toward a distant, tree-lined shoreline under a bright sky.

Charter Ready, Life Proof

An aerial, high-angle three-quarter shot of a white center-console power catamaran cruising through green water, leaving a foaming white wake behind its twin hulls. Two men are on board, with the driver at the helm station beneath a black T-top canopy. The boat features tan upholstered seating, including an open bow lounge area and a rear-facing cockpit bench. The aft deck is finished with a light brown faux-teak swim platform extension flanking twin black outboard engines.

Volare Artemis 23

A low-angle, three-quarter view from the water looking up at a white Invictus ST55 luxury motor yacht idling on calm blue seas. A couple sits relaxing on the spacious aft sunpad deck outside the enclosed main cabin, which features dark tinted windows and black radar domes on the roof. The yacht's modern design includes a fold-down bulwark terrace extended on the starboard side just above the waterline, set against a bright blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds.

Invictus ST55

Related

Photo of lobster boat by Onne van der Wal

So What Is a Lobster Boat?

pmyp-110200-boats-5_550w.jpg promo image

Luhrs 37 IPS

prm-jb90

Meet Jaruco – (pronounced ha-ruh-ko)

megayacht-builder-directory-2008-crn.jpg promo image

Megayacht Builder Directory 2008 Page 5

PMY_WHITE_logo
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Customer Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Firecrown Media
  • Sister Brands
    • Anglers Journal
    • Passage Maker
    • Sail Magazine
    • Soundings Online
    • Trade Only Today
    • Yachts International
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Customer Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Firecrown Media
  • Sister Brands
    • Anglers Journal
    • Passage Maker
    • Sail Magazine
    • Soundings Online
    • Trade Only Today
    • Yachts International

Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen. Power & Motoryacht may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site.

Copyright © 2025 Power & Motoryacht Firecrown. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

PMY_WHITE_logo
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Boats
  • Voyaging
  • Maintenance
    • Engine
    • Marine Engines
    • Ask Professor Diesel
    • Refit and Upgrade
    • Systems
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Gear
  • Electronics
  • Megayachts
  • Blogs
  • Sportfishing
  • Best Stories in Boating
  • Contact Us
Facebook X-twitter Instagram
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Customer Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Firecrown Media
  • Sister Brands
    • Anglers Journal
    • Passage Maker
    • Sail Magazine
    • Soundings Online
    • Trade Only Today
    • Yachts International
  • Subscribe
  • Newsletters
  • Gift Subscriptions
  • Customer Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Firecrown Media
  • Sister Brands
    • Anglers Journal
    • Passage Maker
    • Sail Magazine
    • Soundings Online
    • Trade Only Today
    • Yachts International