East Passage Boatwrights has been around for more than 15 years, building their reputation as a classic wooden yacht restoration business, and they have been very successful at that. But for founder Carter Richardson, the seasonality of restoration work has been a challenge.

“Time, tide, and launch day waits for no one,” said Richardson of the feast-or-famine nature of his calendar. “We are busy all winter, insanely busy in spring, and then it falls off until boats are all pulled in November.”

While restoration work has been rewarding, Richardson noted that there was an absence of classically styled power boats on the water and he recognized the opportunity to diversify the business while maintaining a more steady work flow year-round. So he turned to noted shipwright Walt Ansel, who created the design of the East Passage 24, a handcrafted traditional Down East launch.

“The development of the East Passage 24 represents the future of the business and will open up a host of new opportunities for us,” said Richardson.

The end result — hull #1 — was constructed over the pandemic, debuting at the Newport International Boat Show this past September. Powered by a Yanmar 150HP turbo diesel, the EP24 comfortably cruises at 15 knots and tops out at 24. Hull #1 is built as a center console but with organic design changes and multiple helm locations, future builds can be adapted to feature a cuddy cabin and hard top dodgers.

Despite being born and raised in Phoenix, the Down East style of Ansel’s design is very much part of Richardson’s backstory. He grew up visiting his grandparents on the coast of Maine every summer, attended Tabor Academy in Marion, Mass. for high school, then graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. In 2002, he moved to Rhode Island to attend the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS). These days, he makes his home in Newport, commuting to his Bristol facility on Franklin Street.

Right now, the company is focused on selling hull #1, building hull #2 (which is scheduled to be delivered to its owner next spring), and taking orders for hull #3. If it sounds like a time-consuming production process, that’s because it is. Richardson estimates that — once they are ramped up and dialed in for production — each hull will take about 4,500 hours to build. From talking to others in his field, he has heard that the 1st hull of a design will take 70 percent longer to finish, the second will take 40 percent longer, and the third will take 20 percent longer.

“So we won’t know for sure how long each will really take until we’ve built hull #4,” he said.

With enough staff, East Passage has the space to be working on three vessels at once, with one inverted on the mold and two, upright, being outfitted. Hull #1 has a base price of $295,000; hull #2 is being built with a swim platform and forward dodger.

East Passage will continue their restoration work as one of Rhode Island’s preeminent comprehensive wooden yacht repair and maintenance companies, for which the company won Classic Boat’s prestigious Restoration of the Year award in 1997. That honor was for the restoration of the 1935 Sparkman & Stephens 55’ yawl Santana, best known as the beloved classic yacht formerly owned by Humphrey Bogart.

The awards, organized by Classic Boat magazine and decided by the publication’s readers worldwide, are considered the gold standard in the classic wooden boat industry. Richardson traveled to the Royal Thames Yacht Club in Knightsbridge, London on April 12 for the awards ceremony, joining shipwrights, owners, naval architects, historians, winners and guests from around the world. 

“It was fantastic,” Richardson said. “A great crowd of wooden boat enthusiasts. It’s a small community here, and the biggest draw for me was making international contacts, establish communication and learn about pitfalls to look out for as we grow the business.” That he did, highlighting a contact he made with Spirit Yachts, a British company that does all new builds; one of their yachts was featured in the most recent James Bond film.

“It is never easy to go out on a limb, to take the business in a new direction and given everything that the last two years has thrown at us, it is extremely rewarding to be recognized for all our hard work,” said Richardson.

“I can't say enough about the team here at East Passage Boatwrights who worked tirelessly to make the EP24 a reality during a particularly uncertain time. Their dedication to the craft of wooden boat building is second to none and it is such an honor to be recognized by the readers of Classic Boat.”