Bryer Davis has obvious skill and patience as she maneuvers a beautifully restored Chesapeake Bay deadrise workboat out of her slip in downtown Annapolis, Maryland. Davis executes a tight, 180-degree turn to enter the marina fairway, just as three generations of her family have done aboard the lovely Shirley M. Each time they slip the lines, it’s an act of love and a tribute to the boat’s builder, her grandfather, George A. Miller Jr.
Miller was a home builder, a fourth-generation resident of Annapolis from the Eastport side of the harbor. Davis describes her grandfather as very resourceful, like most of the self-sufficient people who lived on the working waterfront of Eastport.
“He grew up crabbing, fishing and exploring the Annapolis area in a small wooden rowboat built for him by his father, which was still used by our family when I was young,” she says. “As kids, we had adventures along the shoreline, hunted for soft crabs and minnows, watched the blue herons and other waterbirds. My grandfather knew it was a magical way to grow up, and as the family grew, he decided we all needed a bigger boat.”
Although he had no boatbuilding experience, Miller found the lumber and fasteners he needed on the working waterfront. He followed the lines of a half-hull model of a waterman’s traditional deadrise workboat hull. The boat took shape in his backyard, and in 1959 he launched it in the Eastport yard where his grandmother owned a marine railway alongside the historic Trumpy yard.
The wooden boat measured about 29 feet with a beam slightly over 8 feet and a draft just over 2 feet. He made the forward enclosed cabin larger than was typical of deadrise boats, providing more protection for the family when the weather turned foul, or more shade for when the grandkids napped.
Whether crabbing, fishing or oystering, watermen on Chesapeake Bay have long relied on deadrise workboats to make a living. Until the advent of fiberglass, these boats were built of wood, and most had flat, hard-chined, shallow-vee bottoms that helped provide access to productive shoals. The design also served as a stable platform for working in deeper waters. Typically, the hulls had herringbone-pattern bottom planking and horizontally planked sides. Keels and frames were often oak, while planking was pine, cedar or juniper. Before bronze and stainless steel were used as fasteners, nails and bolts made of iron or galvanized steel were commonplace.
Miller died in December 2023, not far from the Bay Ridge area pier where his boat floated within easy view. Yet even that fall, as family and friends fished or cruised nearby creeks aboard Shirley M, the 50-year-old wooden boat that had brought so much joy to three generations was succumbing to age.
Minor leaks were enough of a problem to warrant a plugged-in bilge pump at the pier. Davis and her family could have let the boat slip away. Instead, with a great deal of luck and a modest budget, Shirley M made her way across the Chesapeake to the yard of Elzey Custom Boats in Cambridge, Maryland.
Dennis Elzey grew up a waterman on Hoopers Island, about mid-Bay on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He and his father befriended an 83-year-old boatbuilder named Winnie Abbott, who helped build the 13-year-old boy’s first workboat, a 26-foot deadrise. Elzey honed his skills as a builder in Cambridge and founded his own yard there when he was asked to build another waterman’s boat. And even though Elzey currently builds and sells fiberglass workboats, now and again he’s asked to take on the restoration of a classic wooden hull.
“When Bryer asked me to inspect her grandfather’s boat, I was surprised to find a well-crafted deadrise that was built old-school,” Elzey said. “Still, there were problems with old caulking, loose boards and a worn-out gasoline engine. We moved the boat on her own bottom from Annapolis to our yard in Cambridge, got her blocked up and went to work.”
Elzey said they stripped the hull down to bare wood, and found some white cedar bottom and side planks that needed replacement. They discovered a solid fir keelson and good oak stringers, leaving them confident that the restoration would not require a complete rebuild.
The transom and stem also needed considerable work. New caulking followed. After other small repairs were made, they sealed the entire hull with epoxy resin, primer and topcoat, with multiple sandings between layers. With an eye to tradition, they never considered encasing the hull in fiberglass.
“Next came replacement of the running gear; removing the old Slant-Six Chrysler, shaft and prop; and replacing it with a Volvo Penta gas V-6,” Elzey said. “We replaced the old cable steering gear with new hydraulic steering, and after Bryer had them refinished, we reinstalled the original throttle and shifter levers on top of the helm console.”
Elzey renovated the boat from March through November 2024, adding touches like refitted opening forward windows, a new engine box with custom aft-facing seats, and stout carved and curved pillars that support the after end of the hardtop.
Elzey and his crew kept the restoration very traditional. When Davis and her family, who are members of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, exhibited Shirley M, the boat was honored for excellence in preserving authenticity.
“It’s invigorating, being involved in the restoration and ongoing maintenance of a wooden boat,” Davis said. “I pestered my grandfather for years to let me take part in the maintenance, and he, being more than a little traditional, didn’t involve me until later in life. Now, remembering when I would help with the scraping, sanding, painting or varnishing, it’s more than a little bit spiritual.”
Davis looks forward to more summers of being aboard to watch the annual Fourth of July fireworks or the performance of the Blue Angels overhead. Last fall, the family held their first mobile crab feast, spreading brown paper on top of the engine box and enjoying Old Bay steamed Chesapeake blue crabs while slowly cruising nearby creeks.
Out in Annapolis harbor on the day Soundings was with Davis, we caught a glimpse of her standing next to one of her nieces under the hardtop, letting her steer Shirley M out to open water. Passing boats had no trouble imagining that time years ago when her grandfather must have done the same with her.
LOA: 29’
Beam: 8’
Draft: 2’6”
Power: (1) 230-hp
Volvo Penta gas inboard
Cruise Speed: 8 knots
Top Speed: 15 knots
This article was originally published in the April 2026 issue.
