Southwest Harbor man joins Boat School group

EASTPORT – Premier boat builder Ralph Stanley may live in Southwest Harbor, but he soon will be spending time in this seaside community as a member of the board of directors of the Friends of the Boat School.

Stanley has been recognized as one of Maine’s living legends for his lifelong work in wooden boat building and design and was honored at the White House by former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton with the distinction of being one of America’s “national treasures.”

A few years ago, former Gov. Angus King also named Stanley a Maine Boat Builder Laureate by official proclamation.

“Ralph Stanley is a true paragon of strength and rectitude, he is a true living legend and represents the best of Maine,” Boat School instructor Dean Pike said in a prepared release. “His words are quoted as wisdom, and he stands for the best that Maine has come to be known for around the world.”

Stanley has been building wooden boats on the coast since 1952.

During the past half century his accomplishments have been legendary, and books have been written about his abilities and skills.

In the book “Ralph Stanley – Tales of a Maine Boatbuilder” by Craig Milner, Stanley’s love for wooden boats is summed up in his own words: “Boats have been evolving this way for thousands of years in wood. If everybody just stopped building in wood, the art of building a boat would soon be lost.”

The Friends of the Boat School was established last year to promote education in marine trades and the development of marine trades in the Eastport area, with special emphasis on support and promotion of the institution traditionally known as the Boat School.

The friends group is not part of the Boat School or Washington County Community College, which oversees the institution, but is working to support the college’s efforts and that of state and local officials to keep the Boat School open and expand its offerings to meet the needs of Maine’s marine trades industry, the group said in its release.

The group plans to open an office next week on Deep Cove Road, across from the Boat School.

And in response to industry boat-building needs, Washington County Community College officials also announced this week that the Boat School would introduce a new boat-building technique.

“Commonly referred to as cold-molded construction, this technique involves bending thin layers of cedar planking cold and securing them with epoxy glue,” the college’s press release said. Skills acquired from these instructional approaches are transferable to fiberglass technology as well.

The freshmen class will employ this method as it builds one of two Whitehall rowing boats this year.

“The other boat is being constructed using a more traditional plank-on-frame construction,” the press release said.

Students work in four-person teams constructing a 14-foot-9-inch rowing tender, a Whitehall that sports two rowing stations.

The Boat School is a branch of WCCC and is located at Deep Cove.

“This breathtaking coastal Down East setting provides a working waterfront with docks and floats, a 60-ton Travelift, large meeting areas and an impressive marine library,” college officials said.

Classes for the two-year program begin in late August.