Courtesy / Maine Seacoast Mission
The mission purchased a smaller boat, Moonbeam, to continue services to Maine's islands and coastal communities.
April 2, 2019
With new president and plan for HQ, Seacoast Mission turns focus to ship repairs
Courtesy / Maine Seacoast Mission
Maine Seacoast Mission's ship Sunbeam V is heading for a refit this month.
Maine Seacoast Mission in Bar Harbor is reviewing bids this week for the refit of its ship Sunbeam V.
The 74-foot Sunbeam V was built for the mission in 1995 by the East Boothbay shipbuilder Washburn & Doughty. The vessel is a key part of the nonprofit’s mission to provide education, registered nurses and an onboard telemedicine exam room to isolated coastal and island communities.
While the refit work is being done on the Sunbeam, the organization will use a smaller boat to continue its services to Maine’s island and coastal communities, John Zavodny, who came on as the mission’s president last month, told Mainebiz.
A request for bids was issued to five Maine boatyards. Rockland Marine, Portland Yacht Services and Front Street Shipyard responded, Zavodny said. Sunbeam’s captain, Mike Johnson, was completing visits to the boatyards on Monday.
“We’ll then be in position to make a decision later this week about which boatyard will receive the [work],” Zavodny said.
It’s expected the Sunbeam will be in the shop by mid-May.
The fill-in boat, named Moonbeam by a vote of Maine schoolchildren, is expected to go in the water this month. Moonbeam was identified as a replacement by Sunbeam’s engineer, Storey King, who researched, located and inspected several possible boats to fill in for the Sunbeam. Moonbeam is a 34-foot wooden Downeast-style cruiser.
Hull and interior
Work needed on Sunbeam includes maintenance that’s routine for a steel-hulled ship, said Zavodny.
“Steel ships rust from the inside out, not from the outside in, so it’s a routine matter of normal rust building up on the interior hull,” he said. “You have to basically gut the boat and sandblast, add steel panels where necessary, and repaint and refinish from the inside.”
Because the interior will be largely removed for that process, there will also be an upgrade of cabins and facilities, he said. That will include installation of new appliances and electronics
“This is a once every 20 or 30 years refit,” he said.
It’s expected the mission’s operations and services will continue uninterrupted, he said. The exception could be how the crew gets to Maine’s outermost island, Matinicus.
“On a very calm day we might take the Moonbeam to Matinicus,” he said. “But typically the crew will continue its services on Matinicus through air travel. Otherwise basic operations and services will continue.”
One of Sunbeam’s most important services is its telemedicine program, which includes equipment and an exam room aboard the boat.
“Moonbeam will accommodate telemedicine equipment,” he continued. “We’ve outfitted [nurse] Sharon Daley with a laptop-based telemedicine set-up. And she’s working with some of the island communities to set up places on the islands where she can come in and set up her exam room when she comes to visit.”
The refit is expected to take about six months.
The mission completed a campaign to raise $1.5 million for the refit. That amount is expected to cover not only the refit but ancillary costs like air flights to Matinicus, he said.
A separate grant covered the Moonbeam purchase. After the refit is completed, the plan is to resell Moonbeam.
“We looked into the possibility of leasing a boat for the summer, because we don’t need it long-term,” he said. “But it turned out that purchasing a boat would be cheaper than leasing.”
King will captain Moonbeam while Johnson, captain of Sunbeam, will oversee its refit.
New headquarters
In the meantime, the mission is also preparing for the sale of its Bar Harbor headquarters to the Bar Harbor Historical Society, and its eventual move to Northeast Harbor.
For now, its headquarters is in the historic La Rochelle mansion, a 1902 seaside estate with more than 40 rooms on three acres. It was donated to the mission in 1972 by the Colket family of Philadelphia. The mission’s new headquarters will be in a multistory building planned for construction in Northeast Harbor. It will occupy the first floor of the building, which will be built on land acquired by Mount Desert 365, a nonprofit created to promote economic revitalization in Northeast Harbor.
The costs of being at La Rochelle, over $100,000 per year, and the board's decision that the money from the property's sale could better be used to benefit programs and services were primary factors in the decision to sell the estate in favor of a new location.
The plan for the Northeast Harbor building is to break ground this summer, Zavodny said.
“We’re excited to be relocating to Northeast Harbor within view of the Sunbeam,” which docks at Northeast Harbor, he said.
The sale of the Bar Harbor headquarters hasn’t yet been finalized.
“The closing is soon,” he said. In the meantime, the mission has consolidated operations to the second floor, leaving the first floor available for the historical society to begin moving in, he said. The mission will hold a leaseback on second-floor space for an unspecified term.
New president
Courtesy / Maine Seacoast Mission
John Zavodny came on as president of Maine Seacoast Mission in February.
Zavodny, who came on as president Feb. 19, was previously chief of staff at Unity College in Unity. During his 18-year career at Unity College, Zavodny also served as professor of philosophy and humanities, academic chair, director of the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities and dean of academic services. He’s also been active as a community volunteer, serving on the board of WERU Community Radio in Orland and in various capacities for the Camden Conference and the Maine Humanities Council, among others. He holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in classical languages from Lipscomb University.
Zavodny assumed the mission’s presidency with the retirement of the Rev. Scott Planting, who served as president since 2010.
“My first job is to honor the legacy of trust and support the mission has built over the last 10-plus years, ensuring that our quality program continues and that our constituents continue to be served well by our programs and our people,” Zavodny told Mainebiz. “After that I’m going to engage in a long process and look at how all our programs fit together and see how we can build on the success of the past.”
Since 1905, the mission has served the isolated communities of the unbridged islands and coastal villages of Hancock and Washington counties with health, education, food assistance, Christmas, and community-building programs, and pastoral care.
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