Wesmac Custom Boats, Where Maine Lobsterboats Become Yachts

Finishers who became builders

The name joins the two founders, Wes for Steve Wessel, an ex-fisherman who had brokered workboats, and Mac for his partner Mac Pettegrow. They opened the shop in Surry, Maine, in 1984, and at first they completed hulls molded by other companies, quickly becoming known for the quality of that finish work. The turning point came around 1987, when a retired engineer from the Rappahannock River in Virginia asked for a boat nobody was offering. Designing that hull, which became the Wesmac 42, made the partners builders in their own right.

The count of Wesmac vessels now tops 600. They go to lobstermen and other commercial fishermen, to university research programs, police and rescue agencies, harbor pilots and inspected passenger-boat operators, and in large numbers to private yachtsmen. General manager Bill Grindle told Boating that each hull is stick-built around what its owner wants, after lengthy discussion. The shop will also supply bare hulls as kits for an owner or another yard to complete, restores older boats and manufactures the HydroSlave line of hydraulic systems.

The hybrid 42 and the boats built on it

Our covered model, the Wesmac 42, is the boat the company was founded on as a builder. Its design goal was to merge three regional traditions, the fast hard-chined deadrise boats of the Chesapeake, the steadiness of a Maine built-down hull and the pace of a skeg-built one, and the hybrid that resulted is still the core of the line. The 42 page covers its hull form and dimensions in detail.

Because Wesmac builds to order, two 42s can be very different boats. Lobster, sport and cruiser tops are all offered, and the single diesel is chosen by the owner, with recent boats typically on Caterpillar C12 to C18 engines. Charter captain Rick Savage has run his 42 Asticou, finished with a 660 hp Cat 3196B, out of Northeast Harbor since 2003 and describes it as easy riding and very stable. Others have been finished as teak-and-holly cruisers.

Buying a Wesmac, new or used

Wesmacs hold value well in the Northeast because the hulls are tough and the builder is still in business to support them. Used 42s range from about $150,000 for a working boat to $750,000 for a late, well-finished cruiser. Not every Wesmac hull was finished by Wesmac, so find out who completed the boat and judge the joinery and systems accordingly.

Buy on the build sheet and the survey, not the name alone.

• Build sheet with laminate, coring and stringer materials
• Whether Wesmac or an outside yard completed the boat
• Moisture readings on any cored bottom or topsides
• Engine beds and stringer tabbing after repowers
• Running gear and keel shoe for signs of hitting bottom
• Wear from hauling gear and traps on former fishing boats