On the Cutting Edge Boat-Building Industry Going Strong in Maine

Summary

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A 54-foot form dominates the shop at Union River Boat Co. in Bucksport. The form, called a plug, holds half of a mold, which, when completed, will be shipped to one of Maine's premier boatyards and will produce a one-off, or one-of-a-kind, hull for a high-end sailboat.

"We couldn't have done that in the old shop," said Belle Ryder, looking up at where a crew is preparing to remove the half-mold from the plug. "We wouldn't have had the room."

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Extract

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On the Cutting Edge Boat-Building Industry Going Strong in Maine

Union River Boat, a 30-year-old family business owned by Richard Ryder, his wife, Patricia, and daughter Belle, moved from Ellsworth to its new 15,000-square-foot facility a little more than a year ago. They don't make boats in the shop - although they have a design for the Ryder 52, which they hope to produce some day - but the company has made a name for itself making custom composite components for boatyards throughout the state a...

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