🔒Fifth-generation operator takes family-owned North Haven boatyard into the modern age

Adam Alexander is the fifth-generation operator of the family-owned J.O. Brown & Son Inc., a boatyard that has been on the island of North Haven since 1888. It provides fuel, boat maintenance and storage, hardware supplies, boat-taxi services and, not the least, local color to the North Haven waterfront.

Alexander, the great-great-grandson of the James O. Brown, performs a number of duties at the boatyard. He's a liason between the business office and the boatyard itself. He hires and oversees seasonal staff. He can also step in to paint and maintain boats. He spoke with Mainebiz about the challenges of bringing a generational business into the modern age.

Mainebiz: On an island, it seems like you have to provide more than on-water services. What is the range of work you do?

Adam Alexander: We're a gas and diesel station. We do home heating oil. We have a tow truck. We also work on cars. We build floats, we build wharfs. We set moorings and we rent them seasonally, plus we set them for people who own their own. We have a scow, we have a Marine Travelift, we haul boats on land. We work on boats, so that's Fiberglas and wooden boats, outboards, inboards. Then there's all the different types of boat work — things like Fiberglasing, hull spray painting, regular painting, varnishing. And then boat storage and other storage. We rig sailboats for people. We give boating lessons. We're also the ferry service between North Haven and Vinalhaven. We have the hardware store, we have everything from nuts and bolts to paint and sweatshirts.

MB: How has Brown's evolved in recent years?

AA: Definitely more toward maintenance and storage. The building aspect of it ended in the very early 1980s. We had met a family from Beverly, Mass., that loved big lobster boats and wanted us to build them and we did that. We had one other legitimate stem-to-stern construction since then and that was in 2006. That was a beautiful boat and we would love to be doing that, but we haven't exactly organized ourselves to do that. The reality is that wood is not going to be a commercial fishing type of boat anymore.

MB: How did the recession affect Brown's?

AA: It slowed down a bit — but a percentage point or two, not like 20% of our business. We all did notice it. The bigger projects that we tend to do became a little bit smaller. Instead of repainting the whole boat or refastening below water, we'd just recaulk it. A few years later, when people were feeling a little looser, they'd do the whole project again, which made up for it. We didn't have to lay anybody off or take pay cuts. We survived it.

MB: What are some of the challenges of a generational business?

AA: Things change, not necessarily techniques but certainly technology — like the shift from wooden boats to Fiberglas boats. The landscape of our customers is changing. To navigate all those things when it's inside the family — it seems like somebody's not understanding what someone's saying. The older generation can't seem to get through to the younger generation and vice versa. We're saying the exact same words, they just mean completely different things to us. I feel like New Englanders are pretty stubborn and they don't want to let go of things. 'If it worked a hundred years ago, there's zero reason why it shouldn't work 100 years from now.'

MB: What are some other ways the business has changed?

AA: We're just in the midst of having the two best years we've had in a really long time because we've changed a lot of how we do business lately, how we view our business, how we take in money, how we do expenses. The new gas pump system saves us $10,000 a year. A simple thing like changing credit card processing companies has saved us thousands of dollars a year. We're becoming more modern, whether we like it or not, and it's helping.