History
Casco Bay Boatworks—Today
Renamed Casco Bay Boatworks from Brewer’s Boatyard, the business reflects the changing nature of the boat construction and repair industry and the full range of services offered by Matt Brewer.
Casco Bay Boatworks owner, Matthew Brewer, is a fourth generation Maine fisherman and the third generation owner/operator of the boatyard. A commercial fisherman and lifelong seaman, he brings a firsthand knowledge of the sea and boat handling to his boat building craft. Brewer has built a reputation as a true craftsman in the best traditions of a long lineage of Maine boat builders.
Today, Casco Bay Boatworks focuses on the new construction and restoration of working class and pleasure craft boats, built to the exacting specifications of demanding working fishermen and discriminating boat owners.
History
Brewer was raised on stories of his great grandfather, Willis Brewer, who spent a lifetime as a lobsterman, working the waters of Casco Bay and the Gulf of Maine throughout the 20s, 30s and 40s. Willis Brewer began a tradition of Brewer men who earned their living from the sea and combined their knowledge of the sea with boatbuilding to create durable sailing and working boats.
Alvin Brewer, Sr., son of Willis, began Brewer’s Boatyard in the early 1940s on the same waterfront property it occupies today. He built numerous craft, including the popular small point sailboats, at a time when wooden designs still dominated the boatbuilding scene. Standing with one foot firmly planted on the deck of his own boat, Alvin Sr. supplemented his growing boatyard business with seasonal lobstering of his own.
Alvin “Bud” Brewer, Jr. assumed full operation of the boatyard in 1972 and expanded its operation to accommodate the 60 and 70 foot trawlers that worked the deep sea beds for the cold water ground fish for which Maine was so well known. A lobsterman himself, “Bud” saw his operation swell to a crew of 10 boatyard workers and routinely hauled large commercial vessels for maintenance and repair.
Brewer's Boatyard Through the Years
 Hauling a 60' western rig on the original rail ways
 High and dry on the rail way with timber braces
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 62' eastern rig Black Diamond under repair
The railways, originally installed by Alvin Sr., were used into the 1980’s to haul the largest boats for cleaning and maintenance. Nautical charts to this day still depict the marine rail ways that were gradually replaced first by mobile travel lifts and most recently by more versatile hydraulic trailers. |