Photographs by Brian Robbins
When Hutchinson Composites in Cushing, Maine, announced it was ceasing regular production of its well-known Mussel Ridge hulls in the fall of 2024 due to owner Albert Hutchinson’s health problems, it was tough news to hear. The boatbuilder had fought a valiant battle with cancer for years, well outliving doctors’ expectations, but things had taken a downturn, and he wanted to spend what time was left with his family.
Hutchinson was an experienced fiberglass man whose career ranged from building yachts at Lyman-Morse in Thomaston, Maine, to laying up hulls for other builders. But more than anything, he really wanted a hull mold of his own—and in the early 2000s, he began talking with designer Tom Bernardi Jr. about a chined hull with enough bilge amidships to tuck a large diesel under the deck.
The result was the Mussel Ridge 42, 15 feet wide at the beam with a bottom that’s best described as hard-chined and built-down.
Requests for longer hulls inspired Hutchinson to simply add 4 feet to the 42’s run back aft to offer the option of a 46-foot version, which was enough to keep customers happy for a few years. Eventually, enough inquiries about an even bigger model resulted in a 48-foot-by-17-foot-6-inch Bernardi design.
Before he retired, Hutchinson circled back to where he started and oversaw the building of one final Mussel Ridge 42 hull and molded house/
deck, to be sold as a spec boat. When veteran fisherman David Myrick of Gouldsboro, Maine, heard there was a 42-foot hull and top available, he contacted his grandson, Nick Holt, who had been talking about getting a bigger lobsterboat.
“You ought to take a look at that,” Myrick told his grandson.
Meeting Albert
Holt, who fishes out of Prospect Harbor, Maine, said he’d reached the point where he wanted more room than the 38-footer he had, without ending up with a boat that is too big to fish up inside, close to shore.
“I wanted to keep that tradition of how I grew up fishing,” Holt said. “I started when I was 8 years old with 30 traps my grandfather gave me—fishing all the little holes up in close.”
There’s a photo in the family archives of a young Nick Holt with 80 pounds of lobsters he’d caught out of those 30 traps; apparently, he was paying attention to what his grandfather told him.
“That’s the way I’ve always done it; begin each season up inside and work my way off.”
Holt knew a number of people who either owned or fished aboard Mussel Ridge hulls (it doesn’t hurt to get the crew’s opinion) and had an idea the 42-foot-by-15-foot model might serve him well.
He spoke highly of Albert Hutchinson’s wife, Tina, and son, Christopher, who were very helpful whenever he had questions—and he and his grandfather actually talked with Albert himself for a few minutes when they went to look at the hull.
“We didn’t expect to see Albert,” Holt said. “We knew he wasn’t feeling well. But he came out to the shop alongside their house while we were there and was really nice to talk to.”
Hutchinson passed away on February 20, 2025, with his family by his side. He was 60 years old.
“There’s not one thing I’d change”
The visit to Cushing sealed the deal for Holt, who contacted Roger Kennedy of AR Kennedy Customs in Steuben, the finisher of choice when the time came, to update him and mull over a plan.
Kennedy’s immediate response was, “Great; all you need to do is buy an engine and we can have you fishing by June.”
And that’s when Holt’s plan ceased being a long-range one.
The AR Kennedy truck backed Holt’s hull and top into the shop in early January, 2025, and Kennedy was true to his word on the June launch date, despite having plenty of other projects cooking in the meantime.
“I think Roger and his crew had a lot of fun finishing this boat,” Holt said. “There were so many times where he’d ask me about something, and I’d just let him run with what he thought would work the best or looked good to him. Roger has a great eye.”
Powered by a 16-liter Cursor 16 FPT (800-hp @ 2,000 rpm) matched to a 2.04:1 Twin Disc 5126A gear spinning a 34-by-38-inch Michigan DQX prop, Holt’s 42-foot Courtney Olivia tops out at 29 knots. Running at 1,700 rpm yields 21 knots, with a 21 gallon-per-hour fuel burn; throttle back to 1,600 and you’re still making 19 knots while using 19 gallons an hour.
“And I can throw 80 traps on and still cruise the same speed,” Holt said.
As far as Holt’s concerns about lobstering up inside, there are no worries there: “She’ll turn inside of herself,” he said. “She handles really well.”
His summation after having some time to work his 42-footer: “There’s not one thing I’d change.”
Albert Hutchinson would like that.
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“Courtney Olivia” Specifications
LOA: 42'
Beam: 15'
Draft: 4' 11"
Power: Cursor 16 FPT 800-hp diesel
BUILDER: Hutchinson Composites/ AR Kennedy Customs
Steuben, Maine
arkennedycustoms.com
Brian Robbins’s past lives include years as an offshore lobsterman and as editor for Commercial Fisheries News.
