Last year, Nate Drouin visited a West Marine store in Daytona Beach, Florida. The owner of a marina and water-scooter rental company on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee, and additional scooter-rental shops in both states, needed advice about the best material for repairing fiberglass damage on the scooters.
“An older gentleman walked down the aisle and said, ‘Can I help you?’” Drouin recalls. “I said, ‘What do you know about polyester versus epoxy and different types of resins?’ The gentleman kind of lit up and said, ‘Well, I built 4,000 polyester boats in my life.’”
After that chance encounter with Harry Farmer, founder of Seaway Boats, which made its name as a Down East builder in the 1970s, Drouin invited Farmer to visit his Daytona shop to give advice on the repair work.
“A few days later he came by the shop, and he really didn’t seem that interested in helping us fix Jet Skis,” Drouin says. “I just said casually to Harry, ‘Would you ever have any interest in building another boat?’ He lit up, and he was really excited.”
A few weeks later, Farmer quit his West Marine job and became Drouin’s consultant on an all-new, 27-foot Down East-style cruiser that Drouin and his partner, Trell Hartford, owners of Wolfeboro Boat Company, expect to offer this fall. They also recently began selling a tricked-out, 15-foot center console that they worked on with another longtime builder and are selling as the Classic 15—the first product of Wolfeboro Boats.
The boats are being built to order. Seven employees in Daytona were building the fourth Classic 15 as of late May.
“They are totally different boats,” Drouin said. While the 15 is a center console with a functional top deck, the 27 is a Down East-style hull similar to the Seaways. “The big difference is that our interiors and finishing are really high-end in both boats. Our 15s are all push button, so there are no manual battery switches.”
The Classic 15 starts at $29,900 and can cost about $36,000, depending on options. Standard features include a 50-hp Suzuki outboard and a five-year warranty. The 27-footer will start at about $120,000, Drouin said.
In terms of construction, the Classic 15s are filled with a one-bond foam core between the hull and the deck, providing more than 2,500 pounds of floatation capacity. They are equipped with hydraulic steering, an integrated 12-gallon fuel tank, Accon cleats, Perko LED lights, Lumitec switches and interior lights, a Todd Marine swingback integrated cooler seat, and a swim ladder. Options include a Garmin touchscreen chart plotter with lake charts, and a sound system with components from Fusion and JL audio.
“We’re building 100-percent composite boats the old-school way, by hand, and putting out a high-quality finish,” Drouin said. “We’re blending that old world and new world, and it’s kind of cool.”
This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue.
