by Mike Barker
Tom Pawlak and I had the opportunity to visit I Hodgdon Yachts Inc. in East Boothbay, Maine to view the progress on the 124′ Bruce King designed yacht, ANTONISA while she was under construction in 1998.
We first reported on this boat in Epoxyworks 9, (Spring 1997) when the cold-molded hull was being prepared for sheathing. All has gone well. The hull was sheathed with fiberglass, rolled over and the 52-ton lead keel was installed just after our last visit. She has been outfitted with a 5 50hp. Lugger diesel and most of her hardware.
On deck, the final sections of the teak cap rail were being painstakingly scarffed together. Below deck, the marble fireplace and pipe organ have been installed in the salon. Carpenters with an obsession for perfect joinery were fitting the remaining pieces of cherry trim, while painters, ready for the first coats of varnish, worked around them.
Hodgdon is on schedule for launching in mid-June, when the 350,000 lb hull will be hauled a few hundred yards up the road to the launch site. Fitting out will continue through the summer with delivery in the fall.Built with a meticulous attention to detail, and dedication to workmanship that will be appreciated by future generation of surveyors, she is sure to be one of the most beautiful and most durable yachts ever built.
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- Installation of hardware and the teak cap rail continue on the expansive deck. The first sections of teak deck are bonded in place.
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- Separate plywood jigs were built for each section of the deck and sent to a subcontractor who returned pre-assembled sections of teak strips, bonded to a plywood skin. These sections are then bonded to the deck with epoxy.
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- The faired hull, with its long sweeping bow, is primed and ready’ :)~ for finish coats of black paint.
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- carpenter fashions a piece of cherry trim in the salon. Looking aft, the master suite can be seen at the end of the passageway. A sweeping staircase from the cockpit, on the right, is covered by temporary steps for protection.
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- On deck, looking forward, the intricate scarf joints on the last sections of teak rail cap are being completed. Photos on page 25, in Tom’sHardware bonding article, show the potting of fasteners used to holddown the large winch seen in this photo.
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- The pipe organ can be seen looking through one of the skylights. It’s the first thing a guest descending the curved staircase into the salon will see.
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- The large built-in tub in the master suite is made of cherry strips with two layers of light fabric, coated with WEST SYSTEM 105/207.