About Taylored Boats

I arrived in Maine in the fall of 2002, freshly landed from England with my wife Rhonda. I had no previous boat-building experience, but I had natural ability, a strong work ethic, and an eagerness to learn. I hired on at RP Boats in Steuben, and that was the beginning of everything.

I spent six years at RP. By the time I left, I was running builds end to end — laying up hulls, handling wiring and hydraulics, doing the cosmetic work, driving the crane and boat hauler. Anything I could do to learn something, I did it. In the meantime I started picking up after-hours work for local fishermen who needed repairs or finish projects. That side work planted the seed for having a shop of my own.

In 2008 I left RP to work at H&H Marine, and at the same time I started putting up a building in my spare time — laying the groundwork for going out on my own. A 2010 fire at RP destroyed everything: the shop, the equipment, and the molds for their 31', 35', and 40' Willis Beal-designed models. Those were great boats. I had spent years building them, and I was always impressed with their performance — whether they went out as a basic lobster boat or a live-aboard sportfisherman. Losing those molds felt like a real loss for the industry.

In 2011 I went full-time as Taylored Boats, custom-finishing hulls of my customers' choice. Over the years the work has covered the full range — heavy-duty offshore lobster boats, elaborate lobster yachts, USCG-approved charter and ferry vessels, inshore draggers. I have finished hulls from a wide variety of Downeast builders. But the Willis Beal designs stayed in the back of my mind. Customers would ask: whatever happened to those models? In 2018 I decided it was time to bring them back. The very first RP 40 — the Designer's Daughter, owned by Willis' son-in-law Travis Beal — came into my shop, where we stripped her down and used her as a plug for a brand-new mold. That was the start of the new generation of Willis Beal designs, and I am proud of where we have taken them since.