If it Floats, we an build it!
- Farrin Boat Shop
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
If there’s anything that Bruce Farrin Sr. has learned in his boatbuilding career, it’s that it pays to be willing to tackle whatever comes along for projects, be it finishing a tricked-out cruiser or diving into the bilge of a well-worked lobsterboat to replace its engine so it can get back out fishing.
2023 was a good example of that. Farrin and crew turned out a pair of workboat-style pleasure craft tailored to fit the needs of two boat-savvy owners.
Left to right: Bruce Farrin Sr. and sons Brian and Bruce Jr. run the family business in South Bristol. Photo by Brian RobbinsIt’s been 63 years since Bruce signed on at the Harvey F. Gamage Shipyard in South Bristol, where he hit the ground running, building heavy-duty wooden boats, which, during his tenure there, included numerous draggers, the Antarctic-bound research vessel Hero, and the well-known Hudson River-based sloop Clearwater.
Over the next decade, Farrin slowly worked his way from the ground floor at Gamage’s to the top—or the top floor of the shop, anyway, where all the joinery work was done.
Those 10 years provided experience in the good, the bad, and the ugly of boatbuilding, and set Farrin up with the skills he needed to start his own shop in 1971, with the support of his wife, Judy, (“I couldn’t have done it without her,” he said) and two young sons, Bruce Jr. and Brian, to help out.
Over the years, building with wood eventually gave way to finishing fiberglass hulls from other builders, with the last from-scratch wooden boat rolling out of Farrin’s Boatshop in 1986. And in the meantime, brothers Brian and Bruce Jr. grew into the business as talented craftsmen themselves.
Ask the brothers separately what they feel they’ve learned from their father over the years, and you’ll get the same basic answers from each:
“Have a good work ethic.”
“Be dependable.”
“There’s no ‘close enough’—do it until you get it right.”
“Everybody does everything, from sweeping the floor to joinery work.”
“Take pride in what you do; a customer isn’t going to if you don’t.”
