Joe Sargent of Milbridge: A Humble Craftsman
By Brian Robbins
“You ought to be talking to Marcus about boat building — he’s the pro,” Joe Sargent told me, pointing to his right-hand man Marcus Saunders. Marcus, clad in Tyvek coveralls and a facemask, shook his head, chuckled, and went to grab a sander.
Joe Sargent with the 42’ Reverence (a 42’ Mussel Ridge).
With 50-plus new builds of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of complexity to his credit, you could say Joe Sargent of Sargent’s Custom Boats in Milbridge might know a thing or two about the craft himself — and he does. Ask his customers, many of whom are repeats.
But given the chance, Joe still likes his time at the helm of his Crowley-Beal 33 C.A.V.E., whether he’s tending lobster gear, dragging scallops, catching halibut, or giving summer tours.
After all, he was a fisherman before he was a boat builder.
Learning by doing
Growing up in Winter Harbor, Joe Sargent’s main focus during high school and the years following was working on the water — mostly lobstering, with some time spent tending for urchin divers later on. His father Montelle Sargent fished as well, but he also taught Joe about working on boats.
“My dad is one of those guys who can do anything,” said Joe. “You couldn’t help but learn stuff just by being around him.”
Joe, who will be 54 in December, came ashore in 1996 to work for two of the area’s production yacht builders: Able Marine and Hinckley Yachts. While his preference was finish carpentry, Joe was actually working in the Hinckley layup shop in February of 2000 when his cousin Phillip Torrey approached him about finishing a lobster boat.
“I remember I was out shoveling my driveway after a snowstorm,” said Joe.
“Phillip pulled up and told me he’d had someone lined up to f
inish a high-sheer Duffy 35 for him, but they had to back out. He wanted to know if I had time to work on it.”
Joe was already working long hours at the Hinckley facility, but he dedicated his nights and weekends to finishing his cousin’s 35-footer. “Compared to the boats we build nowadays, there wasn’t a lot to it,” he said with a grin. “She had a molded top, plus the engine and shaft were already in her. Six weeks later, she went overboard.”
Custom – for real
That 35’ Duffy (lengthened to 37’ by Sargent’s in 2019) started the ball rolling for Joe as a boat finisher. He was working for himself full-time soon after, with father Montelle and his younger brother Josh on board, as well (Montelle has since retired; Josh, after paying his dues in the shop for years, now handles the books for the operation).
From the beginning, Sargent’s Custom Boats’ focus has been on finishing any builder’s hull, with the emphasis on “custom.” To accommodate customers’ desired layouts, for instance, Joe began designing and building his own wheelhouses. “We found it was actually easier and more cost-efficient to build a top from scratch, rather than cutting a hull builder’s molded unit up and trying to modify it. The main idea was to give a customer what they really wanted.”
The 46’ Juggernaut, owned by Winter Harbor lobsterman Chris Nelson Jr. is a prime example of the shop’s customizing capabilities. Launched in 2008 by the Sargent shop, Juggernaut began her life as a stock Wayne Beal 46 hull — the first out of the Jonesport shop’s then-new mold. Joe and crew raised the hull’s sheer by 11” on the bow and 9” at the stern (increasing the 17’6” beam to 18’ in the process). The increased height allowed for features such as a two-crate-deep lobster tank under the deck; a roomy rope locker which doubles as a hot tank; and the ability to tuck the original C-15 Caterpillar beneath the custom wheelhouse’s floor without a big step-up.
Joe pointed out Juggernaut, sitting on her mooring in Winter Harbor. “We’ve sent boats from here to Alaska,” he said, “and all along the East Coast ... but I think that’s my favorite one we’ve built, right here. It’s the quintessential lobster boat.”
Evolution
The advantage of finishing hulls from other builders was the Sargent shop’s
ability to go with whatever the current trend was. But there was also a downside, Joe noted: “You’re at the mercy of someone else’s schedule to get your hulls.”
In 2014, veteran builder/lobsterman Jim Beal — who, along with Don Crowley, had his own shop in Milbridge about a mile away — mentioned to Joe that he was looking to get out of building boats and was looking for a home for his molds.
Jim didn’t have to mention it twice.
Since then, Sargent’s Custom Boats will still finish the hull of your choice – and if the hull of your choice happens to be a Crowley 23, a Crowley/Beal 33, or a South Shore 38 (available in lengths up to 42’), Joe has the molds for them.
Offering a lengthened version of the 38’x14’4” model (originally designed by Calvin Beal for the now-defunct South Shore Boatworks in the 1990s) turned out to be a popular option: a good two-thirds of the hulls out of that mold have been stretched by Joe and his crew.
Over his 26-years-and-counting career of building lobster boats, Joe has seen many changes to the basic recipe. “Take trim tabs, for instance,” he said. “It used to be we’d put them on a hull now and then; now anything of any size goes over with them. Your hull might sail beautifully when it’s light all on its own, but when you have a load of traps on, you’re going to want trim tabs.”
He laughed, remembering installing the first all-stainless 10” pot hauler built by Marine Hydraulics Engineering. “It’s been all 17” haulers these last few years. Now a 14” one’s considered small ... and it’s been a long time since we did a 10” hauler, or even a 12”.
“It’s like everything else,” Joe said. “The engines, the electronics, the below-deck tankage and all the plumbing. We’re building different boats than we were back in 2000, that’s for sure.”
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