DURING A VISIT to Armstrong Marine, the aluminum-boat fabricator based on U.S. Highway 101 between Port Angeles and Sequim, I became fascinated by the amount of marketing the company is doing to expose its products to the international boating community.
I spent an hour or so with Perry Knudson, who directs the international sales and marketing programs for the company, where the shops are full of projects in various stages of completion.
Perry, who is a very engaging individual, spoke enthusiastically and at length of the numerous conferences and shows the company participated in last year.
Venues included the United Kingdom, Germany and the Middle East.
Perry is on his way to Rio de Janeiro this morning to meet the company’s president, Josh Armstrong, and together, they will attend the Latin America Air Defence (LAAD) Exhibition that runs Tuesday through Friday.
LAAD is a biennial event that brings together Brazilian and international companies that specialize in supplying equipment, services and technology to Latin American armed forces, police departments, special forces, security services and government agencies.
Thousands of visitors from dozens of countries will visit exhibitions hosted by more than 600 vendors from 60-plus nations.
Perry also explained another component in Armstrong’s expanding marketing efforts: the recent addition of Capt. Charlie Crane, formerly of Platypus Marine Inc. of Port Angeles, to its staff.
Perry said that since Charlie came aboard, he, too, has been racking up frequent-flier miles at a torrid pace, attending conferences and expos on the East Coast.
Next week, he will fly to Kodiak with the company’s naval architect, Trevor O’Brien, to represent Armstrong Marine at ComFish Alaska.
Armstrong recently launched a 24-foot aluminum survey boat that will be headed to St. Paul, Minn., next week.
The boat, named Launch 22, was built for the Army Corps of Engineers and is outfitted with a hydrographic survey system built by Ross Laboratories of Seattle.
Jason Minnoch, Armstrong’s government sales manager, said the vessel will be used on the upper Mississippi River to monitor the depth level of the river, which must be kept at a minimum of 9 feet to allow for the safe passage of tugs and barges as the vessels bring their commodities to market.
Moochie II is all but completed and has already been in the water a couple of times.
She is a modified version of the company’s Elite 35 Series and has a 13-foot beam.
Moochie II has a full walk-around wheelhouse, a cuddy that sleeps two and a dinette that can also be adapted to sleep two more.
Twin 300-horsepower Yamaha outboard engines power the 34-foot pleasure craft.
Another version of Armstrong’s Elite 35 Series, White Tiger, is nearing completion.
She, too, is 34 feet long with a 13-foot beam and has a walk-around wheelhouse with a raised foredeck.
This additional space allows for a spacious cuddy with a head on the port side and berthing for two on the starboard side.
In addition to the helm controls, there is a set of steering controls on the starboard side of the aft deck.
She is powered by two 300-horsepower Mercury outboard motors and has a 25-horsepower kicker.
The owners of White Tiger and Moochie II live in neighboring communities in Alaska, and when it comes time to take the boats north, they will make the journey together.
Sloop restoration
Wooden Boat Wednesdays continue at noon this coming Wednesday in the Maritime Meeting Room of the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.
About a dozen women will provide the presentation.
They are involved in the restoration at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding of the 23-foot sloop Felicity Ann — a boat that gained fame when she was single-handedly navigated across the Atlantic Ocean in 1952 by Ann Davison.
The presentation will include stories and slides of the vessel’s history-making journey.
Additionally, their talk includes a mini-workshop about the science of wood grain — its strength and plasticity — and how to select wood.
The women know about marine wood: They’ve worked with renowned shipwright Ernie Baird, who has been mentoring the group on this project.
Felicity Ann was built in Cornwall in the United Kingdom in 1939 and was originally named Peter Piper.
After her brush with fame, she was lost to history’s haze and found abandoned in New York.
She was partially restored in Haines, Alaska, from 2008 to 2009.
The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding acquired the boat and is currently undertaking the restoration project at its Port Hadlock facility.
Wooden Boat Wednesday is a free event that begins promptly at noon and typically lasts for 90 minutes.
Seating is limited and requires advance registration by phoning the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St., at 360-385-3628, ext. 101.
Or send an email to
chandlery@nwmaritime.org.
Familiar tankers visit
The 869-foot crude-oil tanker Kodiak anchored in Port Angeles Harbor on Monday.
According to Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff of Washington Marine Repair, the topside repair company on the waterfront, personnel went on board to repair some heating coils and a cargo pump.
Tesoro Petroleum will provide bunkers to the double-hull tanker today, and just shy of midnight, she is scheduled to get under way for Singapore.
That’s where she will go into dry dock for about a month for her routine five-year inspection to ensure the ongoing quality of her systems and the integrity of her hull.
On Thursday, Sierra moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 1 North.
Sierra is an 831-foot crude-oil tanker that Hollywood said was having a foam fire pump overhauled prior to departing Port Angeles on Saturday with bunkers from Tesoro Petroleum.
On Friday, Tesoro bunkered Overseas Boston, a 600-foot petroleum-products carrier that hails from Wilmington, Del.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears every Sunday.