Dream Boat - A local pleasure craft built with a philanthropic mission in mind

Rob Smith has two dreams. Dream One: Build a large boat. Dream Two: Sell the boat built in Dream One and use some of the money to help shelter children orphaned by AIDS in southern Africa. Dream One is now complete in the form of the Thain 50, a Rueul Parker-influenced trawler that combines a vintage look with contemporary plywood-and-glass building techniques. Smith and his nephew, Albert Van Rooyen, started building the boat in the Everett (Wash.) Marine Co-op boatyard in 2005 and launched it last August. It has since visited the Center for Wooden Boats Wooden Boat Festival in Seattle and this winter’s Lake Union Boats Afloat Show. Dream Two is on its way as well. Starting five years ago, Smith formed the non-profit Agathos Foundation to help southern Africa’s AIDS orphans and elderly live more “healthy, prosperous and fulfilling lives.” AIDS in Africa has created more than 13 million orphans and another 10 million children will be orphaned in the next five years, according to the foundation. Smith, son of a pastor and a South Africa native, set out to build orphan village sites—self-sustaining farm communities in which children can be sheltered, fed and taught in a Christian environment. One village, the Cottages at Injesuthi, is up and running on a four-acre site near Ladysmith, South Africa. Smith started the foundation by mortgaging his home. He hopes to raise more money through proceeds from the Thain 50. The Thain 50 at port in Everett. At the outset, the boat wasn’t purely a pipe dream. Smith is a former home builder and once owned Old Monastery Woodworks, a high-end furniture company. He aimed to build a relatively inexpensive boat that still had a high standard of workmanship, a low-maintenance wooden boat for people who admire the work—but not the price tags—of Olympia-based stitch-and-glue pioneer Sam Devlin. The boat is relatively light, displacing 20,000 lbs, with a narrow 13'4" beam and shallow 2'4" draft. Smith and Van Rooyen used structural insulating panels, common in energy efficient homes, on the roof and deck. The hard-chine hull is fiberglassed marine plywood, measuring 1 1/2" on the bottom and 1" on the sides. The cabin sole is cork, an inexpensive flooring that doubles as sound insulation for the 135 hp, six-cylinder Perkins diesel. A bow thruster is standard. Annie, Hull #1 of the Thain 50, is selling for $385,000. Other models can be built to order in about six months. Smith also plans to build a trailerable 32-footer similar to the 25' C-Ranger tug. At least 10 percent of the profits from the Thain 50 will go to the Agathos Foundation. “The philosophy is we’re making your money work over and over and over again,” Smith says. rticipate in the next edition, I would be very interested.”

 

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