BOOTHBAY, Maine — Sparks fly from a steel grinding wheel, and create a bright orange shower that cascades to the concrete floor, more than 20 feet below.
It’s just a normal day at Washburn & Doughty, where grinding and cutting steel is only part of building huge steel tugboats.
The company has been in business for more than 45 years, but the work it does and the sophisticated boats it builds are likely not well known — outside this part of the Maine coast. That’s partly because the yard is somewhat hidden away in a small harbor along the Damariscotta River, and because few Mainers get to see their boats on the water.
"You know, the idea that we are building steel commercial boats here is a surprise to a lot of people," Katie Doughty Maddox, president of Washburn & Doughty, said. She is the daughter of co-founder Bruce Doughty.
Established in 1977, they began building steel fishing boats but changed to tugboats a few years later. The company has built other boats over the years, including a large new ferry for the Maine State Ferry Service three years ago — but tugboats are their specialty.
Doughty Maddox said the company has built and launched 67 of those vessels so far, with four currently under construction. The tugs typically range from 83 to 93 feet in length, with twin "Z-Drive" propulsion systems and a pair of big diesel engines doing the hard work of moving big ships.
"They will pull Navy ships around," master shipbuilder Ken Doak, who has been working at the yard for 33 years, said.
The vessels are clearly popular with the industry.
Doughty Maddox said they have built tugs for several businesses, but their two primary customers are Moran Towing and McAllister Towing, both based in New York. She said Washburn & Doughty's boats are routinely working harbors all along the East and Gulf Coasts.
And business continues to be steady, she said, because new tugs are needed.
"The tug fleet in this country is very old, the Coast Guard rules have made quite a few obsolete. There is a demand for them, [because of] bigger ships coming into port, and the need for higher horsepower."
"They are seaworthy and they are strong," Doak said.
The work to build the boats is highly skilled, and the yard has many longtime workers turning out new boats.
"I love it,” designer Brad Strong, said. “I’ve been here seven years, the longest I’ve been with the same company, which says a lot."
But the company has struggled in recent years to find enough skilled workers to fill all the jobs, a problem common to many Maine manufacturers. That has led the company to bring in some contract workers, from other countries.
"It's been a way to recruit skilled workers from other shipyards," Doughty Maddox explained.
"A talented bunch of guys,” Doak said, pointing to the man grinding steel up on a hull. "Like this young guy up there, hanging plate. He has 11 years at a shipyard in Brazil. I can see his talent."
All the workers took a break on a recent Friday to watch the latest tug be launched into the harbor. All admitted watching the boats slide down the ways into the water — perhaps the last major builder in Maine to use the traditional method — fills them with pride.
"It's amazing. I made a social media post at that launch saying it never gets old," Strong said.
"It's tremendous pride,” Doughty Maddox said, whose family's name travels with every boat. "Pride in the working waterfront and Maine shipbuilding. You want to carry on the legacy and do it right."