The main building looks massive, seemingly stretching into infinity. Harry Boardsen, the owner of Bridgeport Boatworks at Steelpointe Harbor, meets me at the guardhouse gate and leads me inside, where I am blown away. We stroll past not one, but two enormous catamaran commuter fast-ferries lined up end to end, and then a full-sized tugboat that towers above us. The vessels are resting on blocks, waiting for service or repairs. Welders are welding, shipwrights are inspecting, and workers are prepping for blasting and bottom painting. It’s a beehive of activity. At the opposite end of the building, the door is tall and wide enough for the yard’s gargantuan 700-ton Travelift that’s designed to move boats even larger than those inside. The door opens onto a concrete pad the size of several football fields, where three more Travelifts of various sizes are visible.
“This place is amazing,” I say to Boardsen.
“You haven’t seen the other side of the building yet,” he replies as we walk past stairs and under a raft of offices located overhead.
We move to the other side, where at least 10 recreational boats are on blocks. They range from midsize family cruisers and sailboats to Downeasters and a classic Mako center console from the early 1970s that is in for restoration.
Outside the building, to the east, is another expansive concrete apron filled with many more boats, from large motor yachts and sportfishers to bowriders and center consoles. Most were coming out of winter storage for spring commissioning. Others were in for specialized attention, including an elegant 136-foot J-Class racing yacht that would be outfitted with a set of high-tech carbon/Kevlar sails, a process that few yards anywhere in the world can undertake. The complex process of rigging restored classic sailboats to sleek racers is just one of the hard-to-find services at Bridgeport Boatworks.
This family-owned and operated business has been built up from the abandoned remains of Derecktor Shipyard, which went into bankruptcy in 2008 and remained dormant for the next 10 years. Boardsen’s path to this destination has been an interesting one.
Boardsen’s wife, Abbey Holstein, and her family have been in the marina and boatyard business for over 50 years. Her father, John Holstein, bought the Noank Shipyard in Noank, Connecticut, in 1980 as a place to indulge his passion for building offshore racing boats and turned it into a successful marina. Abbey started out on the fuel dock as a kid and eventually worked her way up to running the marina. Years later, the family bought Seaport Marine in Mystic, Connecticut, their second property, and it was there that Boardsen stepped in, bringing his expertise in property development and love of all things boating to an already prospering business. He opened the Red 36 restaurant on the property, then expanded the marina’s footprint.
In 2016, Boardsen took an interest in the vacant Derecktor Shipyard property in Bridgeport, which at the time was owned by the city. He met with the owners of RCI Marine Development, the company behind a new vision for Steelpointe Harbor. RCI’s goal was to turn the location into the marine equivalent of an urban, mixed-use community designed to embody the most desirable characteristics of a harborside neighborhood and playground. RCI was working with the city to build a new, world-class 200-slip marina alongside the old Derecktor property, which would include a harbormaster building, lighthouse, restaurant, office space and more.
Boardsen and Abbey were intrigued by the location of the complex, on a spit of land at the confluence of the Pequannock and Yellow Mills Rivers alongside I-95 and just a stone’s throw from Long Island Sound. For the couple, it presented the opportunity to build the full-service boatyard of their dreams, one capable of handling anything from commercial vessels to megayachts, and Makos.
“We realized RCI’s vision and ours aligned perfectly,” Boardsen recounts. “Our plans for revitalizing the shipyard meshed with their vision for the marina and a whole live-work-play community that would be Steelpointe Harbor.” The couple, who had sold the Noank Shipyard but maintained ownership of the Mystic marina, began renovating the old buildings in Bridgeport that were little more than empty shells.
“In 2016 we were hard at work cleaning up the old shipyard and it was no easy task,” Abbey says. “We had to fight off the raccoons that had made the offices their home, and it took almost six months just to get internet to the building. We had to source equipment, and managed to locate two Travelifts, one 75-ton, the other 200, which allowed us to handle most of the recreational boat business, but not larger commercial vessels and megayachts.”
When Bridgeport Boatworks opened its doors in 2018, it had nine customers, but they were ready to grow. However, just over a year later, the Covid pandemic struck and complicated their plans for development.
The next year they had 24 retail customers, and once the pandemic subsided, the yard’s growth rate really picked up. The commercial side of the business expanded rapidly when Hornblower Marine, the largest operator of commuter ferries in the nation, announced that the yard would be a service hub for its regional fleet of vessels. For that reason, the 700-ton Travelift was assembled on the property.
For a business like Bridgeport Boatworks to thrive, a team of highly skilled shipwrights and technicians are a must. Early on, Boardsen and Abbey were able to bring a few skilled craftspeople from their other locations, but more were needed. “We were lucky to be able to hire accredited industry folks from other locations and also harvest local skilled talent,” Boardsen says. “We worked with the city of Bridgeport to expand employment opportunities here, offering training as needed. We have been fortunate to be able to find so many great people to join our team and help us serve a unique demographic.”
One such person is Jay Mulrooney, the company’s head of business development, who brought with him years of experience working aboard superyachts at Newport Shipyard in Newport, Rhode Island.
“Coming to Bridgeport Boatworks in 2021 when it was still in its infancy was challenging,” Mulrooney says. “I worked closely with Harry and Abbey to bring in all the specialized equipment needed for superyachts and the level of service required by such demanding clientele.”
Boardsen and Abbey also partnered with highly accredited outside service companies. About three years ago, North Sails, a leading sailmaker for all sizes and types of sailboats, moved onto the growing Steelpointe campus. Other experts on site include those that specialize in custom composite work, refinishing, hull and topside painting and gelcoating, varnishing, hull repairs and more. The combination of talent makes the yard a one-stop shop for almost anything boating related. And then there’s mega outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops, which opened a superstore next door in 2015. Bridgeport Harbor Marina had its grand opening shortly after.
Today, Bridgeport Boatworks offers haul-out services for vessels up to 700 tons, megayachts to 250 feet and catamarans up to 50 feet wide. The yard also provides boat storage, service and repowering for outboard, inboard and diesel engines, marine electronics installation, and a fuel dock. On any given day there are over 100 people working on site.
“We welcome boats of all sizes and types,” Boardsen says. “Currently the yard has slightly more sail than powerboats, but the mix changes. All types of boats are welcome here and their owners can be assured they will receive unparalleled care.”
The boatyard has become a regular stopping-off point for private boats that travel the East Coast with the seasons and is one of the few in the Northeast that’s capable of handling the bigger yachts. “Abbey and I go to Florida to check out marine operations and pick up pointers that can help us run our operation more efficiently,” said Boardsen. “And while we’re there we’ll often be sitting at a waterside restaurant on the Intracoastal and see boats that were just in our yard a few weeks earlier. As boat owners and owners of what has grown into a major full-service boatyard, we enjoy being part of the community.”
This article was originally published in the July 2024 issue.
