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Hyannis Show Sheds Light On Custom Boat Building
Tony Davis, owner of Arey's Pond Boat Yard in Orleans, captains a 22-foot XFC catboat that the boat yard custom built for a client. Davis will make a presentation on how the boat was made during this weekend’s Boat Builders Show on Cape Cod in Hyannis. PHOTO COURTESY TYLER FIELDS
ORLEANS – Four years ago, a customer came to Tony Davis with a very specific challenge. Build one of the fastest catboats that’s ever sailed.
“So we did that,” said Davis, owner of Arey's Pond Boat Yard in Orleans.
Davis and his team spent 18 months meticulously designing and building the 22-foot XFC catboat, which launched in 2023. On Feb. 2, Davis will give a presentation on the boat and how it was designed as part of this year’s Boat Builders Show on Cape Cod, slated for Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 at the Hyport Conference Center in Hyannis.
“There’s no boat like it anywhere,” he said. “It’s the first of its kind.”
Key to the boat’s design is its weight, Davis said. The bulk of the weight is centered in the middle instead of being dispersed throughout the wood boat, he said. The boat also is unique in its use of two headsails.
“Back in the day, when catboat racing was very popular [at the turn of the century], catboat racing included jibs,” Davis said. “We brought that back. We have a carbon fiber bowsprit, a carbon fiber mast. It’s a non-traditional sail.”
In designing the boat, the Arey's Pond team kept a close eye on every detail, especially when it came to weight. In custom boat building, Davis said, that precision is vital.
“We put it on the scale,” he said. “Everything that went into the boat was weighed. I had a very strict hull weight, and then I knew exactly how much lead ballast would go in the keel to get her dead on her lines. And if I did that, I felt confident that she would sail as well as we hoped. But you really have to keep control of these projects right from the drafting board.”
A traditional catboat of comparable size has a hull speed of about six knots, Davis said. But the custom XFC has registered speeds as high as 13 knots on the water, he said.
“She just handles beautifully,” he said of the boat. “We’re really, really happy with it. The owner’s really happy with it. We won a bunch of races, and that’s all he wanted.”
Davis took over Arey's Pond Boat Yard in 1991. At the time, the business functioned mainly as a dealership for the Fall River-based boat manufacturer O’Day. When the company went out of business, Arey's Pond moved into building customized boats. Davis estimates the boat yard has built about 400 custom boats in the last 34 years.
For local boat builders like Davis, boat shows like this weekend’s in Hyannis offer an opportunity for builders and boat enthusiasts to gather, chat and share ideas. Having participated in the show in past years, Davis said he’s ready for questions of all kinds.
“They’re interested in the various builders that are there and their designs,” he said. “Maybe they’re thinking about ordering a boat. And then there’s a good handful of people that have built a boat and are just interested in talking to the boat builders, knocking ideas off them about how to put a plank in or how to steambend a frame or how we make a mast.
“I’m a big proponent of shows,” he added. “These small shows are very niche. They won’t get a ton of people, but they’ll get people who appreciate what we do, which is all mostly custom.”
While the opportunity to connect with likeminded boat aficionados (and yes, sell boats) makes the boat show a worthwhile endeavor for boat builders, Davis also sees the show as a way of continuing to promote the custom boat building industry. With luck, he said, younger people will take an interest in the craft and keep alive the proud tradition of local boat building on Cape Cod.
“There’s a long history of it [on Cape Cod],” he said of custom boat building. “The problem is I can’t do this forever. I’m passing it on to family who hopefully will keep it going. But it’s a skilled labor, so the other part about the show for us builders is…we’re always looking for skilled labor to keep this going.”
“So we did that,” said Davis, owner of Arey's Pond Boat Yard in Orleans.
Davis and his team spent 18 months meticulously designing and building the 22-foot XFC catboat, which launched in 2023. On Feb. 2, Davis will give a presentation on the boat and how it was designed as part of this year’s Boat Builders Show on Cape Cod, slated for Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 at the Hyport Conference Center in Hyannis.
“There’s no boat like it anywhere,” he said. “It’s the first of its kind.”
Key to the boat’s design is its weight, Davis said. The bulk of the weight is centered in the middle instead of being dispersed throughout the wood boat, he said. The boat also is unique in its use of two headsails.
“Back in the day, when catboat racing was very popular [at the turn of the century], catboat racing included jibs,” Davis said. “We brought that back. We have a carbon fiber bowsprit, a carbon fiber mast. It’s a non-traditional sail.”
In designing the boat, the Arey's Pond team kept a close eye on every detail, especially when it came to weight. In custom boat building, Davis said, that precision is vital.
“We put it on the scale,” he said. “Everything that went into the boat was weighed. I had a very strict hull weight, and then I knew exactly how much lead ballast would go in the keel to get her dead on her lines. And if I did that, I felt confident that she would sail as well as we hoped. But you really have to keep control of these projects right from the drafting board.”
A traditional catboat of comparable size has a hull speed of about six knots, Davis said. But the custom XFC has registered speeds as high as 13 knots on the water, he said.
“She just handles beautifully,” he said of the boat. “We’re really, really happy with it. The owner’s really happy with it. We won a bunch of races, and that’s all he wanted.”
Davis took over Arey's Pond Boat Yard in 1991. At the time, the business functioned mainly as a dealership for the Fall River-based boat manufacturer O’Day. When the company went out of business, Arey's Pond moved into building customized boats. Davis estimates the boat yard has built about 400 custom boats in the last 34 years.
For local boat builders like Davis, boat shows like this weekend’s in Hyannis offer an opportunity for builders and boat enthusiasts to gather, chat and share ideas. Having participated in the show in past years, Davis said he’s ready for questions of all kinds.
“They’re interested in the various builders that are there and their designs,” he said. “Maybe they’re thinking about ordering a boat. And then there’s a good handful of people that have built a boat and are just interested in talking to the boat builders, knocking ideas off them about how to put a plank in or how to steambend a frame or how we make a mast.
“I’m a big proponent of shows,” he added. “These small shows are very niche. They won’t get a ton of people, but they’ll get people who appreciate what we do, which is all mostly custom.”
While the opportunity to connect with likeminded boat aficionados (and yes, sell boats) makes the boat show a worthwhile endeavor for boat builders, Davis also sees the show as a way of continuing to promote the custom boat building industry. With luck, he said, younger people will take an interest in the craft and keep alive the proud tradition of local boat building on Cape Cod.
“There’s a long history of it [on Cape Cod],” he said of custom boat building. “The problem is I can’t do this forever. I’m passing it on to family who hopefully will keep it going. But it’s a skilled labor, so the other part about the show for us builders is…we’re always looking for skilled labor to keep this going.”
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