By Brian Robbins
LAMOINE, ME – The year was 2008.
The economy was soft.
Lobster prices were down.
It seemed that the last thing anybody was thinking about was having a new boat built.
So what did Stewart Workman, owner of SW Boatworks (who up to that point had been a custom finisher of other shops’ hulls) decide was the best thing to do?
He bought a set of hull molds from well-known designer/builder Calvin Beal Jr.
And within a year or so, he also purchased the Ernest Libby Jr.-designed Young Brothers molds, as well.
“So, the obvious question is: ‘Why?’” I say to Stewart as we sit in his office at SW Boatworks in Lamoine, Maine. “How did you dare to do that?”
“Well, my wife Alice and I talked about it,” says Stewart. “The economy had gone to hell in a handbasket and boat building had gone with it. But it was going to come back … and we figured if I didn’t have my own line of boats to sell, I was going to be out of business.”
“Yeah, but …” I hesitate. “Weren’t you scared?”…
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