Keeping it simple with the handsome Maggie-Ann

All photos courtesy Peter Buxton

For those who love boats, an elegant sheer stirs the soul, and it’s hard to imagine more of a soul-stirrer than the sheer gracing Maggie-Ann. Seen here just after launching at Billings Marine in Stonington, Maggie-Ann was originally modeled by boatbuilder Peter Kass and “tweaked” by the boat’s builder, Peter Buxton.

Maine has no shortage of boatbuilders who, year after year, launch extraordinary examples of their art. Most of those boats are built of fiberglass, some for lobstering or sport fishing, some—power or sail—for recreational use. A few boats are built with cold-molded wooden hulls, most of them exquisite yachts. And then there are the handful of boats, perhaps fewer than one each year, built using plank-on-frame construction in one of the rare boatshops that still practices this traditional craft.

Most of those boats are built for older lobster fishermen who appreciate, and can afford, the easier motion and reduced vibration they say a wooden boat offers. A few may be built for younger fishermen who see them as a kind of status symbol. Even fewer are built for a recreational boater with an appreciation for a truly unique craft.

In September, Stonington boatbuilder Peter Buxton launched the handsome Maggie-Ann for a Port Clyde customer who knew exactly what he wanted for what is likely to be his last boat: a traditional lobsterboat with what the builder described as “very basic” accommodations. “No amenities, not even a V-berth, just a couple of lockers, a rudimentary head,” Buxton said. And there’s the 355-hp Cummins diesel installed in an engine box located completely forward of the main bulkhead where it won’t intrude into the flush cockpit sole.

Simple, straightforward, almost spare, Maggie-Ann’s helm station was designed to make room for a full suite of modern electronics including a 21-inch chart plotter and radar. The boat represents a sort of collaboration between two of Maine’s master wooden boatbuilders, Buxton and Peter Kass of the John’s Bay Boat Co. in South Bristol. Kass originally carved the model for a 32-footer named Bernadette, and Tad Roberts, a designer based in British Columbia, drew a set of lines for the boat. The Port Clyde customer wanted Kass to build Maggie-Ann to that model, but his yard was too busy to take the project on. That led to a visit to Brooklin Boat Yard, where chief designer Will Sturdy did a “final design,” and from there, the project eventually went to Buxton’s shop.

As built, Maggie-Ann is 33 feet long, with a beam of 11 feet, 6 inches, and draws 3 feet, 6 inches. Her hull has 1-1⁄8-inch cedar planking and a white oak backbone with 2-inch by 1-1⁄4-inch steam-bent timbers. Buxton said he “tweaked” the sheer, lengthened the house, and deepened the keel by 2 inches so the boat could swing the 24-inch propeller the engine required to produce a top speed of 20 knots and a 15-knot cruising speed. The boat is powered by a 355-hp Cummins QSB6.7 Slimline turbocharged and aftercooled diesel engine. 

Ready for launching, Maggie-Ann shows off her traditional, built-down hull form, and an elegant paint job that accentuates the subtle melding of hull and house.

The house and cabin are cedar on oak, with cedar ceilings in the cabin below. The platform and washboards are oiled Douglas fir. The only fiberglass on the boat, Buxton said, are the tops of the house and trunk cabin.

To maintain the traditional appearance of the boat, all her deck hardware and fittings are bronze that was soaked in salt water to give it the patina of age. The only stainless steel on the boat, Buxton said, is the mounting plate behind the wheel—a compromise to save waiting time—and even that was painted to give the appearance of weathered bronze.

Buxton said his customer’s insistence on a strictly traditional basicMaine lobsterboat wasn’t the result of mere whim. Already in his late 70s when he sought out Peter Kass, the Maggie-Ann’s owner had long experience with powerboats. He told Buxton that, for many years, he’d owned a basic wooden lobsterboat built by the noted Brooklin boatbuilder Frank L. “June” Day Jr. and “loved it.” Later, he owned a 38-foot fiberglass downeast-style boat from a well-known Asian boatbuilder and “hated it.”

For all her traditional appearance—Maggie-Ann was painted using Kirby’s traditional marine enamel finish with ivory on the cabin, “bronze green” on the hull and trim, green-grey on the interior ceiling, and white down below—the boat is equipped with modern electronics, including a 21-inch Garmin chart plotter and radar at the helm. She is also equipped with top-of-the-line wipers on her three-panel windscreen, and a big airhorn.

The autumn sun makes Maggie-Ann’s oiled fir washboards and cockpit sole seem to glow with an inner light.

Named for the owner’s daughters,  the Maggie-Ann took 13 months to build. Buxton finished lofting the hull in June of 2023, then laid the keel on the floor of his Stonington shop in August after a two-month wait for delivery of the oak used for the backbone and framing. She sailed for her home in Port Clyde in mid-September, one day after her launching at Billings Marine in Stonington. Squinting a little, it might just have been one of June Day’s boats heading westward out of the Deer Island Thorofare.

For those interested in the details of how Peter Buxton built Maggie-Ann, the Off Center Harbor website has posted a series of 15 videos that follows the construction process in detail from lofting the hull on the shop floor to fitting the “shutter plank,” the final step in building the hull. The process, and the videos, are fascinating. 

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Maggie-Ann Specifications

LOA: 33'
Beam: 11' 6"
Draft: 3' 6"
Engine: 355-hp Cummins QSB6.7 Slimline

Designers:
Peter Kass & Brooklin Boat Yard

Builder:
Peter Buxton, Buxton Boats
Stonington, ME
207-367-6318

Stephen Rappaport is a writer and editor, has lived in Maine for more than 35 years, and is a lifelong sailor.