Part 2 - Build vs. Buy

Now that I had found the boat I wanted, I had to find someone to finish it. I needed the wheelhouse to be fully enclosed and the cabin finished down forward, as well as a number of other items. I called 3 or 4 of the boat finishing shops up in Maine that I had previously read about and were regular advertisers in National Fisherman and Commercial Fisheries News.

An unfinished RP 35 hull and top sits outside RP Boat Shop in Steuben, ME.

Since I had never done this before, I also called the builder of the hull, RP Boat Shop, and got a price from them for a brand new boat built to spec. To my surprise, there was only a 10% - 15% difference in price for building a new RP 35 vs. buying the one I was looking at and having it finished! The wheels began to turn...

There was another reason why I had to seriously consider building vs. buying at this point. Horsepower. The 315 HP Cummins is a great engine, but 315 HP isn't a lot of power in a 35' boat. The boat topped out at over 20 knots with her, but that was partially unfinished, light on fuel, with no gear and running hard. I didn't want to have to run an engine at top end to make a speed that I still wasn't happy with. So while this was the perfect boat for me, was it the perfect engine? Could I (and my customers) be happy with a 15 knot boat? I had to further explore building a boat...

Time. There is never enough time. RP Boat Shop. Fraser Performance. PenBay Boat Company. All were perfectly happy to build me a boat, but they wouldn't have it done until later in the summer. It seems the word is getting out about the versatility of a Maine lobsterboat and the craftsmanship of their builders, and most builders are booked 12 - 18 months out. I pretty much had my boat sold, and didn't want to be without a boat until "hopefully" August. Maybe I could get by on 315 HP...

There was one more shop to call - Sargent's Custom Boats. Joe Sargent had been recommended by Dick (Richard) Pinkham at RP Boat Shop as the person "who I would want to build my boat". I called Joe, told him what I wanted to have done, and got some references from him (including a boat in North Jersey he had just finished the past summer!). He got back to me with a quote in line with the rest, and I asked him the big question...when could he start? The answer: the first of January and be done in April. I told him a deposit would be in the mail in the morning, and I suddenly found myself fully immersed in the world of building a custom boat!