Levi Dow, Steve Thomassen Sr. and Tanner Thomassen get ready to undertake some annual upkeep on the Baltic, a fishing vessel first launched in 1917. The senior Thomassen has been fishing on it for about half its life in the water.
The sounds of a couple dozen projects can be heard coming from Wrangell's Marine Service Center, as commercial fishermen, pleasure boaters and other mariners finish work ahead of the busy summer season.
Activity at the yard has heightened over the past six weeks, harbormaster Greg Meissner reported, following a steady but comparatively slower winter. The uptick is normal, however, with a little fewer than half of the boats lifted at the yard through the year moved during this final fiscal quarter.
"We're about 12 boats up from where we were last year," he said. The 2016 fiscal year had ended with 285 boats lifted, and Meissner hopes to hit the 300 mark before the year ends in July.
One of the noticeable shifts over the year has been an increase in larger vessels, made possible with the addition of a new, 300 tonne lift in 2014. Moving the larger vessels can take more time – several smaller fishing vessels can be moved in a similar timeframe to some of the heftier tugs – leading to lower overall figures and revenues for the city-managed yard. But that is balanced out by business to the yard's contractors, which usually see significantly larger scale jobs as a result.
"We're happy to see that," said Meissner. "Getting big ones on the ground is a good thing."
On Monday one of the oldest boats lifted by the yard was put on chocks. The 52-foot fishing boat Baltic was first launched in 1917. Owner Steve Thomassen Sr. has been at its helm for about half of its century on the water.
The original owner had it constructed for $6,500, or about $135,000 today when accounting for inflation. "They paid for it the first year," Thomassen said.
Following civil use during the Second World War, Thomassen explained his grandfather purchased the boat. "When he died he willed it to all of us boys – there were four of us boys – and our mom and dad," he recalled. Eventually he bought out his brothers' interest in the vessel, paying $35,000 for Baltic.
"There used to be four of us that worked on here," pursuing crab, cod and various other fisheries. With a pair of hands on hand now, Thomassen gets about five or six days a year with it now, for halibut fishing.
Maintaining a century-old vessel is no inexpensive feat, and Baltic is kept in the solid condition it is after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of investment over the years. Thomassen said expertise and facilities also deserve much of the credit.
When he first bought the boat, he would sometimes do repairs himself on the grid. "Once I just about lost it on the grid," he recalled. "She shifted on me and fell away from the piling. I put a tourniquet on it and pulled her back into the piling."
More often, Thomassen would pull his boat yard at Olaf Hansen's shop, and Arthur Svendsen was his go-to contractor.
"Any time this boat comes out, he was the only one that worked on it," he said.
Since the new boatyard was constructed, new lifts and new shipwrights have taken on the task of maintaining Baltic.
"The last big job that I had was Dan (Thompson) and Tyler (Thompson)," Thomassen said, pointing out the craftsmanship. "They put in a new bow stem, a new forward deck. They did excellent work."
Chuck Jenkins did additional work on the deck, trim and mast, and Arthur's successor Dave Svendsen continues the family relationship with Thomassen's boat.
"But they all do excellent work. I don't want to leave any of these shipwrights out," Thomassen added. Every year he hauls out his boat, if not for major work then to repaint it and replace the zincs.
"If it wasn't for that boatyard this thing wouldn't be in as good shape as it is. This is a lifesaver, this boatyard," he said. "The guys that work here, haul me out and stuff, they're excellent. They take good care of me, and they like the boat."
Meissner expects the Baltic may be the oldest boat Wrangell's yard has so far pulled, but that might soon pass to the Bee, a 60-foot tug launched in 1901. The boat could be hauled out in the near future for its own ongoing maintenance.
As for the yard itself, over the past year water access has finally been extended to three current contractor lots, and the line stubbed for a fourth potentially. A request has been put in to extend water utilities to a pair of buildings over on the yard's eastern end, though logistical and funding considerations in excavating the nearby line beneath Front Street could put that project off.
Meissner said his department is also trying to get foot and vehicle traffic through the yard under control, specifically for those simply passing through or sight-seeing. In November the Port Commission voted to make the yard a restricted access facility, due to safety concerns related to passing traffic.
A fixed route for the summer has been drawn up for a pair of tour operators who have been running buses through the yard, limiting their access to certain parts of the yard. After September though, visitors may expect to see signage at the various gates admonishing them to keep out.
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