New buildings for Artisan Boatworks

Artisan Boatworks in Rockport, Maine, has added a new storage building and paint to keep pace with its growing maintenance and storage business. Owner Alec Brainerd celebrated the new buildings with an open house in early November.

Since starting the business in 2002, Brainerd has carved out a niche restoring and building classic wooden sailboats and motor yachts. In recent years, the yard also has seen an increase in storage and maintenance work. “Our service program helps us when new construction is slow,” Brainerd said.

The yard now employs 18 people. Artisan’s most recent project was a Herreshoff-inspired motor tender. The new 5,800-square-foot storage building is an unheated wood framed pole barn with metal siding and dirt floors that are better for wooden boat storage. The new 1,600-square-foot paint shop features controls for humidity, dust and ventilation and heat provided by fast and efficient hot-water convectors, Brainerd said.

The new structures bring the Main Street yard’s total building area to approximately 21,000 square feet. John Davee and his crew at Maine Coast Construction did the work. The yard received financial assistance from Eastern Maine Development and Bangor Savings Bank, Brainerd said.