Coast and Country Society Dinner – 10/27/2025

Shared a meal and many laughs with these friends and makers last week at our second Coast and Country Society Dinner - @coast_and_country_society.

It was nice to be together, to come together and share stories and build these relationships with like-minded people!

Thanks to new and old friends who joined last weekend! @magic_sites - Patrick Sikes Photography, @joehadams - Joe Adams, @the.jep.life - J.E.P., @kuhnpw - Peter Kuhn, @j.earl_and_sons - J. Earl & Sons, @northcountryboatworks - North Country Boatworks, @brisketsupply - Brisket Supply, @darienbutchershop - Darien Butcher Shop, @thehunt1977 - The Hunt, @rivaynyc - Rivay Airways.

The Coast and Country Society is a collection of damn Yankees redefining & celebrating the Northeast. Learn more at @coast_and_country_society.

A Labor of Love - Palmetto 1987 Dyer 29”

In the fall of 2013 this boat found me. I wasn’t looking for it, but it had project written all over it, and was recently repowered with a beautiful Yanmar 315-horsepower engine. Once show season, sailing season, and the holidays were over, we found some space in a local warehouse and began work. The storage space was huge, about 30,000 square feet, so we had to get creative and economically build a place to work where we could have some heat and keep the dust contained. We ended up building a shrink-wrapped encloser around structural steel beams with wire. A little shrink wrap, some dangerously high ladders and we were in business. I could afford the space for about 5 months…barely.

What started as a minor re-fit got bigger and bigger. I ended up deciding to eliminate the motor box and put a bridge deck and L-shaped settee in its place. This would give the boat a much better layout, similar to more modern boats. This also created space for guests to hang out closer to the driver. I also decided to remove the awkward cockpit gunnels so that guests could all sit around the cockpit. I would walk around the boat, sitting in places, thinking about each space, and contemplate any improvement that I could make to make it cool, and my own. It went on like this, endless changes, some structural and some just cosmetic, but they all took time.

I ended up building that bridge deck and installing a custom teak floor. I added a storage locker into the floor complete with the boat name and crossed burgees inlaid in the lid. The beautiful L-shaped settee and matching transom seat all had custom Captain Navy-colored cushions with Toast-colored piping. I tore out every single wire, re-wired the entire boat with a custom flush-mounted Garmin electronics and an updated helm pod from Dyer Boats. I installed new port lights and hatches and created custom teak cockpit coaming similar to those on the Bass Boats. I even painted to bilge white. We added hot water and a cockpit shower because my friend told me “A hot shower separates us from ANIMALS”. He was right, it’s been heaven to have hot water on the boat!  We topped the boat off with a custom ‘Stars and Stripes Blue’ paint job, Toast-colored non-skid decks, and bright white cabin house and water channels.  I’m not sure there was any part of the boat left untouched when I was done.

I loved this project. It made the dark New England winter fly by, filled my evenings, and led to so many late nights I lost count. This boat was everything I wanted at the time. I kept her for two seasons until the next project called to me. I ended up selling her to a woman from Ohio who came out to Connecticut with her sister and took her out to Lake Erie, where, last I heard, she remains and is still loved. Below are some photos of the project. I hope you enjoy these as much as I loved making and taking them!

2025 BOAT SHOW SEASON IS A WRAP FOR SOUNDVIEW MILLWORKS

Well, that’s a wrap for our boat show season. Seems like as quickly as it comes, it’s over and we are back to working in the shop and getting prepared for our holiday push! Speaking of which, if we didn’t see you at any of the shows it’s never too early to reach out about holiday and corporate gifting options! There is still time, but the holidays will be here before you know it!

This year, we were back in Newport for our first show of the season, then onto Norwalk in our “backyard” and then down to Annapolis, to the always-impressive Annapolis Sailboat show! Newport is always special to us, as many of you know I met my now wife Mia there, and every Thursday of boat show we have a special night where we do cocktails at the Clare Cook House and dinner – the spot we first met for drinks, 11 years ago!

If you haven’t been to the famous Cook House in Newport, it’s a must!  These Annapolis shows never cease to amaze me. There is so much fun stuff happening with new boat technologies and designs, while seeing all of it tucked into the basin surrounded by a maze of docks and paths build just for the show! Walking these docks never gets old! 

One of my favorite parts of these shows is the friendships you make over the years and how everyone comes together for a shared love of boats, camaraderie, and fun. A couple of boat show beers are always a good idea!   

This year, we had a few special visitors at Newport. Our Friends Charlie Enright, Mark Towill and of course Ralphy!   

In Annapolis we were re-united with our buddies Carl and Charlie – fellow crew members of PRIDE, USA 11811 – the 1973 Swan 44 we were all just racing together in the 2025 Les Voles de St Tropez. And on a rainy Saturday afternoon I was taking an order from an Annapolis Yacht Club member, realized his Brother was College of Charleston Classmate of ours – even better – his Nephew was there too and is class of 2027 at CofC!

I guess that’s the part I love most about these shows – connecting with customers and re-connecting with friends near and far… but that’s a wrap on this year’s show. Thanks to all that came to say hi, support us or share stores with us. We love catching up with you!