I have driven by the boat factory of San Juan Composites in Anacortes, Washington, regularly for at least a decade, often thinking “that’s just not my kind of boat.” For a decade, I never stopped to check out what was happening inside.
I recently walked through the front door for a tour of the sprawling plant and came away still thinking a San Juan might not be for me but confident that superb boats are built there.
San Juan Yachts builds yachts from 30 to 75 feet in length, all inspired by East Coast lobster boat styling as modified by Greg Marshall, a naval architect practicing in Victoria, British Columbia. The company is at the hub of boat building in Anacortes. The upstart Northwest 42 is built in an unmarked metal building across the street and Northern Marine’s luxurious large yachts flow from a huge building just a block away.
I made the tour with a group. We dashed from our cars, facing a driving rain, a SW wind of small craft strength and an air temperature in the mid 30s. (Yeah, this is my Northwest!) Our first stop was the assembly building, where we were pleased to find a heated floor, a temperature of 6o+ degrees (a constant temperature just right for curing composites) and two San Juan yachts undergoing final prep work before being shipped to East Coast owners, after an intermediate stop at the Miami Boat Show.
Other models were under construction throughout San Juan’s three-building campus.
Marshall has given the old lobster boat some new curves, but they compliment the original design. The boats all have large cockpits great for fishing, sunning or partying; the working lobster boat would carry pots and other gear there.
Because they are fast as well as faithful to the northeast lobster boat design – and intended for sun drenched weekend harbor hopping -- most San Juan boats go to buyers on the East Coast.
We walked through the final assembly building and watched skilled workers readying a 38 and 48 for shipping to buyers. Other technicians were working on a 40, preparing to mate deck sections with the hull. They all honestly seemed to be having a good time and I wondered if they occasionally break out singing “off to work we go” while marching to their work stations.
Boat builders often jump ship for a little extra money at a boatyard across town. Yet, San Juan says that of the original 25 or so who joined the company when it opened in 1996 about 19 remain on the payroll. Today, the company employs about 100 men and women.
To borrow from younger folk: the work they perform here is awesome, outstanding and (in my words) simply superb. When your competition is Hinkley and the Eastbay line from Grand Banks, you can’t be anything but the best.
All teak is impeccably finished to fine furniture standards. San Juan hasn’t abandoned exterior teak – these boats have teak decks (prefabricated in panels by a subcontractor in British Columbia), teak toe rails and hand rails. The painted fiberglass hull is without blemish and interiors are comfortable, sophisticated and functional. I didn’t have the opportunity to crawl through engine rooms, but I would expect nothing but the best there (where you’ll find Yanmars on the smaller yachts and hulking MTUs on the larger).
The 48, already named Deep Blue, deserves raves. Its transom rises on power lifts to reveal a “garage” for a tender or other water toys. The saloon/helm station/bar is up a few steps from the cockpit and living quarters and the head are forward.
Later, I toured another 48 (in company storage for the winter) and found it every bit as exciting inside as was the exterior of Deep Blue. The boat is four years old and remains in impeccable condition. In the engine room, warm because engine block heaters were on, everything either was painted white or chrome plated.
After serious looking I found a flaw: a hair-sized ridge in the varnish on the underside of the teak handrail. Oh, my.
I truly was impressed with a 40-foot flybridge (based on the 38 hull) that had a team of workers aboard. It’s “name” is SJ40FB. (You can translate.) Up on blocks, she looked poised to jump onto plane and to disappear from sight. She has the dark blue hull that seems to be the color of choice by San Juan buyers.
San Juan was among the first builders to adopt vacuum infusion construction techniques, which means it produces lighter, stronger hulls. Kevlar is used on underwater sections of the hull, making them the nautical equivalent of bulletproof.
The nearly flat planing hulls don’t require stabilizers, which mean San Juan boats don’t need hydraulic systems. That means less weight, more speed and better fuel efficiency. (The 48, with big MTU diesels, will consume something like 60gph, so efficiency through weight reduction is important.)
Another practical advantage of infusion molding: the parts created are so nearly perfect that sanding away rough edges and repairing voids – common on handlaid fiberglass hulls – is rarely needed.
The precision of infusion has brought the concept of interchangeable parts (an 18th Century idea) to boat building, along with a semi-custom production line. We watched woodworkers trim the interior mold for the forward section of a 48. It will go into hull number 21, but would fit equally well in any other 48 hull.
San Juan has announced plans to build a75 footer, a “pumped up” version of the 49. But she’s still in design development and there were no signs of her on the factory floor. Now that might be a cruising yacht.