www.kellys-stuff.com

The workdeck on my small lobster boat. The green tank (exacta) as they are called, is where I keep my lobsters. It is fed by a small pump to keep the lobsters alive.

Typical Maine Lobster Boats

Although not apparent in this picture the boat is 13.5’ wide. I can carry up to about 135 traps or sometimes a few more but usually keep things around 120 as it gets somewhat less congested although the weight of the traps has a very small effect on it. The traps I fish are all 3 feet. I stay with this length because they are easier to handle and I live a few miles from the coast so I have to truck them to and from the water. The smaller traps are better on the trailer and it makes things easier although 4’ which is another common size would be fine on the boat.

The pictures on my site are mostly of my boat because of the dangers of copyright infringements. Occasionally I will include other pictures I have but try to keep them to a minimum to avoid slow loading pages and the previously mentioned copyright issues.

To contact me:

E-mail: kelly@kellys-stuff.com

I recently changed web hosts and am working on getting all aspects of my site up and running.

 

Probably not too important to my visitors but what actually happened is I backed up the site but for some reason it contained a virus and needed to be deleted.

 

I was left with no choices other than just leave it down or begin all over.

 

Thanks for your patience.

Bringing the boat into the dock after backing out of the travelift.

One of the boats I looked at before having mine built is the “Uptown Girl” on the right. She is a 33’ x 12’ designed by Calvin Beal and built at Crowley’s Boat Shop in Milbridge, Maine. I could be wrong on the dimensions. I do know it is 33’ long.

 

The tower on the top is getting to be a pretty common sight although it seems at least with my electronics that putting the antennas that close together isn’t all that good an idea.

 

I only say this because normally on the water radios of all types seem to come in well but with the tower on mine my FM and even my VHF seem to be somewhat directional. I do know the manufacturers of radios recommend more distance between antennas to get optimum performance. I don’t know if it is my equipment or antenna spacing.

 

Permission to use this picture was given to me by the editor of Lobster Boat Racing. Com Go there to see many pictures of real working lobster boats and some that aren’t so real. I say not so real because some look like lobster boats but are built much lighter and haul a minimum if any traps. More or less just built to race and show the performance of their hulls. Naturally the performance changes as weight is added to make them a real working lobster boat.

The Uptown Girl as shown on the lobster boat racing site. This seems to be one of the typical “Calvin Beal” designs and he designs boats with a somewhat “level” sheer line to keep the bow low as it catches less wind when hauling traps. It is my opinion only but I do like the slightly upward sheer on the RP but functionally it probably isn't as good. From my observations Calvin’s boats do seem to run flatter because of changes in the configuration of the bottom of the hull. I would say they are probably faster with similar size, weight, and power. With all the boats of the well known designers in Maine they all strive for carrying a decent load with a reasonable amount of power although in recent years the trend has been more for speed.

Lobster boats come in all sizes as shown in the pictures below of my old boat. I would say it is safe to say that normally boats of the size below (22’) they are outboard powered. The one below has a small Volvo Diesel, hydraulic power steering, and a 12” hauler. Often the haulers can be 10” or even electric in the small boats.

 

The picture on the left is before any fishing equipment was installed. On the right you can see the davit, and over the window a GPS and on the ceiling a depth sounder. It also had a radar not shown in the picture. It had all of the equipment in my new boat with the exception of the GPS and the new boat has a Chart Plotter.