Lyman-Morse is supporting the renovation of the historic American Boathouse situated at the head of Camden Harbor, Maine. The boathouse is one of the oldest recreational boathouses in the United States and once housed the yacht of wealthy summer resident Chauncey Borland. In 1982, the boathouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. To remain on the list, it must be renovated in keeping with the original structure.
Lyman-Morse Technologies’ scope on the renovation is to provide a fully automated main door system, a custom boat cradle mounted on a rail car, a capstan winch to haul the boat on its rail cradle up a 5-degree incline into the boathouse, and the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system, including carefully thought-out control algorithms and interlocks to make the system work safely.
The new main boathouse doors were built and installed by Lyman-Morse. Each door panel is 10′ wide by 20′ high. They were made from e-glass and vinyl ester resin wrapped around a structural foam core skinned with mahogany and painted green to preserve the historical look of the boathouse.
The original boathouse also included a marine railway originally powered by oxen to haul Chauncey Borland’s yacht in the off season. Part of the historical renovation includes restoring the railway system, and Lyman-Morse Technologies is collaborating with Prock Marine to provide that system. The modernized system is powered by an electric capstan winch connected to a continuous chain loop system and controlled by a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD). The yacht travels on a custom aluminum boat cradle mounted on a structural steel rail car connected to the chain system. The rail car is 50’ long and 18’ wide, rides on 10 steel wheels, and weighs approximately 7 tons. The LMT team also designed the control system to operate the doors and to raise and lower the rail car remotely from the yacht. Prock Marine of Rockland, Maine, is supplying and installing the rail system and chain.