A view of Jewell Island from the top of a World War II tower

Here at Yankee Marina & Boatyard in Yarmouth, we’re within easy boat reach to Casco Bay’s archipelago of small islands — some completely unspoiled, others a testament to historical events. The area is a rich opportunity for day trips, so we wanted to tell you about some of our favorites:

• A trip down the Royal River from Yankee Marina & Boatyard will bring you to plenty of islands right at the river’s mouth. Look straight ahead and you’ll see a long, narrow strip of land called Whaleboat Island. It’s the largest undeveloped island in Casco Bay. The name reflects the shape of the terrain, with elevations on both ends and a saddle in the middle. The island is protected in perpetuity as a holding of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. You can tie up at one of the three or four moorings provided for daytrippers and those who want to sleep at designated campsites. We enjoy rowing ashore and strolling the grassy meadow and cobble beaches. Be sure to keep a lookout for the osprey nest, the bald eagles that are regularly observed here, and migrating songbirds and warblers nesting in the spruce forest. You can also view the crumbling remains of an early settlement.

• Long Island, farther to the south, has a great bit of political history. Once part of the city of Portland, Long Island’s community, numbering about 230 people, decided in the early 1990s to secede because of a property tax disagreement. The “rebellion” was covered by news outlets from the local to the national level. Two-thirds of Long Island is state-owned, the rest private. It’s a popular destination for tourists who enjoy beautiful beaches, picturesque harbors, and a glimpse of small-town life. Yankee Marina & Boatyard customers especially enjoy visiting the ocean side, where the water is washed to a special clarity that has an almost tropical quality. A walk along the relatively secluded, fine sand beach can be a bit chilly but very special.

• A short hop away is Jewell Island. During both World War I and World War II, Jewell Island was a military observation outpost, and the crumbling remains of observation towers, a battery and gun emplacement, and other installations are still in place. The state-owned island, a mile-long gem, is crisscrossed by walking trails and dotted by campsites. A natural harbor called Cocktail Cove is great for kayaking and anchoring. The Yankee Marina & Boatyard crew particularly loves The Punchbowl, a crescent-shaped beach that’s perfect for a secluded swim and picnic. From the top of the old World War II tower, you get an incredible, panoramic view of Casco Bay.

• Just off Jewell Island, Cliff Island has a year-round population of only about 60 people. Living in a small, island community means people look after each other. But they also welcome summer visitors; some homes are available for vacation rentals. The island was featured in the 1987 film “The Whales of August,” which starred Bette Davis and Lillian Gish playing elderly sisters. You can anchor here, too, and go ashore just about anywhere.

These are just a few of the islands that we’ve enjoyed exploring. But really, you can hop from one to the other and find perfect enchantment anywhere you go. The sheer number of secluded spots is amazing — and so is the journey between, when you’ll see plenty of seals, porpoises, bald eagles, and ospreys. You can fish for mackerel and stripers, and even snorkel for mussels. (A tip: For the sweetest mussels, pick the smaller ones exposed at low tide; they haven’t been picked over by the gulls.)

After a day of exploration, we like to tie up at the transient dock at the shoreside Dolphin Restaurant in Harpswell, where we enjoy coastal fare and the bartender’s great margaritas.

If you’re visiting the area but don’t have a boat, pop by Yankee Marina & Boatyard and we’ll be happy to recommend nearby boat rentals or even take you for a spin ourselves.

“Immaculate” is the word Phil and Tara Rand use to describe Yankee Marina & Boatyard. It’s one of the many reasons they bring their Sabre 42 Express all the way from Wenham, Massachusetts, to Yarmouth, Maine.

“Although the orderly appearance of our yard might be considered unimportant to the technical aspects of boat care, our attention to detail is very important when working on our customers’ vessels and we want the integrity of our work to be reflected in everything we do at Yankee Marina,” says owner and president Deborah Delp. “We believe that a clean yard and other practices can be ‘critical non-essentials’ that are important because they affect how customers judge our overall service.”

We frequently work in boat spaces that are not easily visible or accessible to boat owners — we work on enclosed wiring for electronics and on their engine, for example. These jobs can be expensive yet hidden from view. We want customers to know they can trust us. How best to convey our trustworthiness? By modeling a high quality of workmanship in everything we do, from electronics to a nicely swept floor to an organized and tidy workbench.

As a yard that’s actively working on boats all the time, we’ve developed certain protocols to maintain a clean environment. We end each week with “Friday afternoon clean-up.” Every Friday afternoon for about 30 minutes, everyone stops what they’re doing and turns their attention to cleaning and organizing. Employees are assigned to different stations and are responsible for tasks such as sweeping, clearing away debris, organizing their work benches, putting away equipment and checking for safety protocols. All ladders must be stowed at the end of the day. Needless clutter is banned. Management is tasked with keeping an eye on appearance. Delp maintains strict oversight.

“I came in one Saturday and was not happy with some things I saw. So I took photos and printed them off, and at our employee meeting on Monday morning, I handed them out and said, ‘This is what I saw, how can we do this better?’” she says. “However, that was a rare occurrence. Our employees feel just as strongly about this as I do, and we actually keep each other in check.”

For Delp, an organized and clean workplace just makes sense.

“Everything goes back to our mission of caring about our customers and our desire to provide the best product available. Our customers are busy, hard-working people who come to their boats to relax and forget about their stressful lives. We want to do everything we can to make Yankee Marina & Boatyard be the best thing that happened to them that day.”

At Yankee Marina and Boatyard, our favorite boat projects are really not boat projects at all — they are people projects. Take Lil’ Toot, for example.

This 26’ wooden tugboat has been around our docks in Yarmouth, Maine, for decades. So when Lil’ Toot was due for some restoration work recently, our crew immediately stepped forward to take on the project. The distinctive 6-ton vessel, originally built in the 1950s for work in the Connecticut River, had always been a significant part of its owners’ lives, a family from nearby South Bristol. “It was the great compromise. Dad always wanted a Friendship sloop, but mom wasn’t a big sailor,” says Don Bourne, whose father bought the boat in the late 1980s.

“Poppie” Bourne

After “Poppie” Bourne passed away in May 2013, his family decided to have the Yankee Marina and Boatyard crew take care of some deferred maintenance. In addition to plank and keelson work, plus reseaming and repainting the entire hull, our technicians replaced an aging 38-horsepower Isuzu diesel with a 53-horsepower Yanmar. They swapped out the cable steering system with hydraulics. The exhaust system, which had formerly been a converted automobile exhaust muffler, was upgraded. Finally the interior paint was refreshed, while still preserving the color scheme and patina that Poppie had enjoyed.

Like many projects, Lil’ Toot held a few surprises. Though it’s unclear how much actual towing the boat ever did, once Yankee Marina & Boatyard General Manager Curt Mildrum removed the old engine he discovered mounts for a much larger one — indicating that this “cute” tugboat might have had much more brawn back in the day. In addition, the stern including framing that suggested the boat could handle serious towing jobs. (Other discoveries were more alarming, like the ¾-inch pin that’d been worn down to an eighth of an inch!)

For owner Don Bourne, bringing Lil’ Toot to Yankee Marina & Boatyard was a no-brainer. “In seeing the work that Curt and his crew have done on other boats, including all their Grand Banks yachts, I knew that if you’re working on those kinds of boats, you can certainly work on Lil’ Toot,” he says. “Curt is a perfectionist, and that’s just what we wanted.”

Don Bourne says that his mother had tears in her eyes when she saw Lil’ Toot for the first time last summer, its smokestack once again plying the waters around South Bristol, but with Poppie’s grandchildren now at the helm. Seeing the happiness of that next generation aboard Lil’ Toot and observing the safety of the newly refurbished vessel made the entire project a success. “Me and my father knew that you had to pull this, push that to operate Lil’ Toot,” Don Bourne says. “Now it’s just touch and go — the boat really is a showpiece.”

     Running a business on the coast is never boring — and that’s one reason why we love it so much! Whether it’s accommodating a surprise visit by a yacht club cruise or battening down the hatches for a winter nor’easter, our crew at Yankee Marina & Boatyard are skilled at pivoting from one task to the next.

The Army Corp makes it all possible

     But that doesn’t mean that we don’t do everything we can to make our daily lives — and your time on the water — even easier. To that end we’ve been pushing for more than a decade to get the federal government to carry through on its promise to complete maintenance dredging of the Royal River, and this winter the project will finally be completed (the last dredging occurred in 1997). Beginning on October 20th, more than 82,000 cubic yards of silt will be removed from the anchorage and the channel, carefully loaded onto a barge, and then dumped at a designated area well south of Halfway Rock, east of Cape Elizabeth. The $3 million project is expected to last until January, depending on winter weather conditions.

     For boaters, reaching Yankee Marina & Boatyard has never been a problem: just stay between the 15 nuns and cans in the channel between Parker Point and the I-295 bridge. Check the tide chart and at high tide you’ll have even more room to maneuver. But when this dredging project is completed — well before any of our recreational boaters want to hit the water — there will be 8 feet of water in the channel even at low tide.  In addition, Yankee Marina & Boatyard will be hiring a contractor to do maintenance dredging under our docks, ensuring that our depth is maintained for many years to come. 

 Dredge equipment arrived Oct. 16th 

     “Even at low tide, there’s navigable of water here in the Royal River,” says Deborah Delp, owner of Yankee Marina & Boatyard. “But this project will make it even easier to navigate the river and make it simpler for our customers to come and go from the harbor to the marina.” She praised the dredging contractor’s willingness to start the project after October 15, when most Maine boaters will have already hauled their yachts for the season, and added that her crew is always willing to guide any boater up the river.

As part of our ongoing LEAN initiative at Yankee Marina & Boatyard we held a mid-summer KAIZEN, our third being facilitated through Maine MEP.   KAIZEN, which is a Japanese word for “good change”, is used to describe a short, intense meeting of boatyard team members to define a specific problem and come up with an immediate action plan to resolve it.   For this KAIZEN we chose to address how to reduce errors made while working on our customers’ vessels.

The 3 day meeting (spread out over a couple of weeks) included 7 employees from across the Yankee team and was facilitated by our LEAN mentor from MEP, Bill Whittier. The process demands input from all who are involved and follows a defined set of steps to produce an action plan that can be started as quickly as possible.

The KAIZEN team created a process where management provides written communication to the employee regarding an error, and in return, the employee reviews the error using a Root Cause Analysis Worksheet, and then presents his review and suggestions for future prevention during a morning Crew Meeting.  Management is also expected to provide feedback regarding the number of errors, providing incentive to the crew to minimize the errors.

The “Root Cause Analysis” Review  must end with a “cause” that can be acted upon within the company.  Root Cause is defined as:

• The most basic cause, or causes
• That can reasonably be identified
• that the team has control to fix and,
• When fixed,
• Will prevent (or significantly reduce the likelihood of)
• The problem’s recurrence.

With the cause determined and now being tracked and categorized, we can move forward effectively, learning from our mis-steps and sharing with co-workers any lessons learned in a positive way.  If the cause warrants it, there is the opportunity to create a new company wide SOP (standard operating procedure) to reduce/eliminate making this same error again.  

We are implementing the action plan now, and will run several pilot “Root Cause Analysis” trials as situations warrant for them.  As with all LEAN endeavors, constant improvement means that we will continue to “tweak” our action plan to make it more effective as the process unfolds…

Sometimes, having an Eye in the Sky watching isn’t such a bad thing especially when YOU are the one watching!  Like when a thunderstorm has just passed through and you’d like to know if your dinghy is in danger of being swamped. Or when you need to know if your boat has been launched, so you can head down to the marina and start provisioning it. Having an eye on the coast can be quite helpful, whether you’re nearby or miles away from your boat, and technology makes it as easy as clicking your mouse a few times to control a webcam.

At Yankee Marina & Boatyard, our Eye in the Sky is actually quite small, taking the form of a Canon web camera that we’ve mounted at the top of the gin pole alongside our launching slip. Housed within a weather-tight case, our webcam lets any visitor to our website (www.yankeemarina.com) take control of the camera for a couple of minutes (unless no one is in the online queue, in which case you can pan and zoom all day long) to see what’s happening at Yankee Marina and Boatyard. A fan inside the case removes condensation and ensures a high-quality image, and easy-to-use controls give users a 360-degree view of the Royal River in Yarmouth. If you particularly like the scene, you can even tap a button to grab a still image from the webcam.

We installed the camera about three years ago after seeing similar high-quality webcams at marinas and yacht clubs along the coast. We knew that Yankee customers would appreciate being able to keep tabs on their boats even when away from Yarmouth. In fact, many boat owners like it so much that they share links to the camera so their friends can check out their boat for themselves.

Adam White, service manager at Yankee, admits that the camera is so good, he finds himself using it during off hours to make sure that everything stays shipshape at the marina. “I’ll log in from home just to watch the docks, to see how the boats are doing,” he says. “But you have to be careful — It can actually be quite addictive.”

The Value of Trust and Integrity

Military families maintain a strong set of values, and they carry those values with them when they ponder the care of their yachts and even the decision of where to do their boating. Two of those values, trust and integrity, are what drew Air Force veteran Vic Thuotte and his wife, Connie, to Yankee Marina and Boatyard a half-dozen years ago when they were looking for a yard to care for their 36’ Albin trawler, Contrails.

Sailors for many years, the Thuottes had heard of Yankee Marina’s reputation for maintaining both power and sail yachts. They knew that their circa-1987 trawler would have special needs of its own and decided that Curt Mildrum, general manager at Yankee Marina and Boatyard, and his crew were the right people to keep Contrails in tip-top shape. The decision has proven to be a sound one, whether it’s the full window-replacement project that Project Manager Mike Day completed this past winter or smaller projects that crop up during the season. “During the summer, if anything goes wrong we can give Curt and the people at Yankee a call — they’re our maintenance point,” Vic says. “Nobody touches that boat but Yankee.”

The yard’s location, on the protected Royal River near the head of Casco Bay, was another key factor in the couple’s decision to keep Contrails there. First, Yarmouth represented an easy drive from their Massachusetts home along the I-495 corridor. And with family living nearby, Vic and Connie rely on Yankee’s proximity to their summer mooring in South Portland as well as the prime cruising grounds around Boothbay Harbor, Penobscot Bay, and points farther Downeast. “There are so many islands here, so it’s such a great cruising area,” Connie remarks. “Massachusetts doesn’t have all the islands and just doesn’t seem as perfect for cruising.”

Indeed, most summer weekends find the couple and their extended family, which now includes three active-duty Air Force officers, plus their children, venturing aboard Contrails to Quohog Bay in Harpswell, out to Seguin Light, and enjoying the bustling activity in Boothbay Harbor. Longer cruises have included Camden and North Haven, and this year the couple plans to take Contrails as far as Bar Harbor. Traveling so far afield can be stressful in a yacht whose maintenance is anything less than rock-solid, but Vic says he has absolute confidence in the work that the Yankee crew has performed for him. “You wouldn’t believe the stories that we hear during the summer, of what happens on other boats,” Vic says. “It’s so different when we go into Yankee. The same people are there all the time, year after year, and we get to know them and they know us. I can call them up and get a straight answer right away.”

“The biggest thing for me is trust — trust and integrity. And I’ve found it at Yankee Marina and Boatyard.”

                                                       THINGS TO DO IN CASCO BAY

                                        (Please use a chart to locate the islands in Casco Bay referenced here)

• Golf on Chebeague Island (207-846-9478)
• Free camping on Jewell Island (some camp sites sit right on the edge of small cliffs with beautiful views!  No reservations required).
• Hiking on Jewell Island.  There are old war bunkers and towers to explore, as well as hiking trails.
• Walk around Peak’s Island.  Peak’s also has a small gift shop and ice cream shop right near their dock.
• 4^th of July Fireworks in Casco Bay.  The fireworks are held in conjunction with a concert by the Portland Symphony Orchestra.  Please  see http://www.july4thportland.org/ for more information.  You can take the boat down to Casco Bay to watch the fireworks and listen to the symphony over the radio if you prefer.
• Yarmouth Clam Festival, July 19-21.  http://www.clamfestival.com/home.php  Always a great time, you can walk to this festival right from our docks.  A favorite event is the Guv’nors, a Beatles themed band that plays on Saturday night.
• Pearl’s Seaside Market & Café, right off the dock on Cliff Island.  207-766-2312.  They have a great ice cream store, as well as homemade cinnamon rolls on Sundays!
• Lobster boat races throughout Maine.  Please see http://www.mainescoast.com/lbr/races2013.htm for the schedule.
• Shark’s Cove, Long Island.  This cove contains a sandy white beach, and while private, the public is allowed on it from 9-4.  Boats can only anchor in the cove, however, and then access the beach via kayak, dinghy, etc.
• Eagle Island.  http://www.pearyeagleisland.org/aboutisland.htm.  Moorings are available, and this state park requires a small entry fee.
• Camping on Whaleboat Island.  http://www.mcht.org/preserves/whaleboat-island.shtml
• The Basin Preserve, Phippsburg

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/maine/placesweprotect/me-basin-preserve.xml

RESTAURANTS IN CASCO BAY

• Chebeague Island Inn & Restaurant, Chebeague Island.  207-846-5155.  Their mussels are amazing, and there is both inside and outside dining.  It’s best to make a reservation, and call once you grab a mooring off the dock.  They have a skiff that comes to pick you up.
• Dolphin Marina & Restaurant, Harpswell.  207-833-6000.  This restaurant has a fantastic view, and boaters can tie right up to the dock to eat here.
• Diamond’s Edge Restaurant, Great Diamond Island.  207-766-5850.  This is another great island to walk around on while you’re out for lunch or dinner.
• Saltwater Grille, South Portland.  207-799-5400.  Please try their cracklin’ calamari….it’s phenomenal!  They have a dock you can tie up on.
• Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster, Freeport.  207-865-4888.  Right on the wharf, this place is BYOB, and also sells live lobsters!
• The Falmouth Sea Grill, Falmouth.  207-619-7711.  Located next to Handy Boat, this restaurant has great views from both floors, with a bar on each.
• Cook’s Lobster House, Bailey Island.  207-833-2818.  While here, please go check out the world’s only cribstone bridge, which made it onto the National Register of Historic Places.

Last October, Yankee Marina partnered with Sabre Yachts, Mack Boring, Yanmar, ZF, and Garmin in a project to commission Mack Boring’s demo boat, a new Sabre 38 Salon Express. The integration included engine, transmission, electronic, and hull systems. This was the first time Sabre had installed ZF 2800 Pod Drives coupled to Yanmar diesel engines. For the application, twin 8LV 370hp Yanmar engines were used. The resulting integrated propulsion, steering, and automatic trim tab system, as compared to traditional shaftline propulsion systems, was designed to achieve faster cruising and top speeds, greater fuel efficiency, improved maneuverability, and quieter operation.

Due to Sabre’s production schedule, the boat was delivered to us during our busy fall hauling period just seven days before she was to be transported for exhibition at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. Fortunately, we were asked to handle the project in the spring and had plenty of lead time to prepare.

Planning stages and the team:

Our planning began by researching all the intended work to ensure that we would be ready and that all electronic components and other materials would be available. As part of this process, we needed to source an auto pilot system that would interface with the ZF Drives. After extensive discussion with a number of manufacturers, a collaboration was developed with Garmin to obtain the release during beta testing of a new auto pilot with a special processor and wireless remote.

Next, a detailed work plan and daily work schedule were prepared to meet the boat’s departure date. As the boat’s arrival date drew near, the team was finalized to include 4 Mack Boring engineers, 2 ZF engineers, representatives from Sabre, and up to 14 of Yankee’s crew. With as many as 10 engineers and technicians working aboard at a time in tight spaces and coping with drying times and fumes, the schedule extended well beyond the normal work day.

Project completion and sea trials:

The boat arrived at Yankee Marine at 4 p.m. on October 8 and work began immediately. After securing the boat on jack stands, several technicians worked well into the night to prepare the bottom for painting. As the work went forward:

• Electronic systems were completed to NMEA standards, resulting in an interactive network of Garmin instruments, including radar, chart plotter, depth sounder, auto pilot, and data displays.

• Steering was achieved through a unique fly by wire system, enabling the helm to be operated manually or through the use of a joy stick.

• An Interlux barrier coat and bottom paint were applied, the ZF 2800 Pod Drives and trim tabs were undercoated with Velox antifouling paint, and the cabin sole was finished with several coats of Epifanes varnish.

The sea trials were the successful culmination of the project. They entailed several trips down the Royal River and into Casco Bay, involving multiple launchings and haulings, including the installation of new props to obtain just the right pitch. The boat and her systems performed perfectly and we knew she was ready for delivery to Mack Boring.

Just as scheduled, on Oct 15, we prepared the boat for shipping, including removing her mast and props so she would fit on a long haul boat carrier. As she left for the over the road journey to Florida, we were glad to have been a part of this great partnership and knew that she would serve admirably as Mack Boring’s promotional representative. Our confidence was borne out, as she performed perfectly during demonstrations at the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show and then was piloted by Patrick McGovern, Chief Operating Officer at Mack Boring, to complete her maiden cruise to the Bahamas.

Scott DuBrow, Manager, Marine Sales at Mack Boring summed it by saying:

“Thanks again for your teams work on the project. They did excellent work under a tight deadline and best of all the crew had a great attitude. It was a pleasure to work with such committed people.”