In a March 5, 2019 email, Sunbeam V Captain Mike Johnson sent these photos of the Sunbeam as icebreaker, with this back story:
This morning I got a call from local boatyard Henry R. Abel and Co., asking if we could break ice so they could launch lobster boat Victoria, owned by Islesford lobsterman Richard Howland.
The first photo shows the Sunbeam V heading into the dock. Photos two and three show Victoria in the sling and icebound.
The final photo is of our departure through the channel we broke.
Maine Seacoast Mission thanks Cheryl Grindle at Henry R. Abel and Co. for a) shooting this Sunbeam icebreaking video, and b) letting the Mission share the video with the public.
BAR HARBOR, ME — Come visit the Maine Seacoast Mission Sunbeam V booth today at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum
Yesterday at the Forum, Mission President John Zavodny was speaking with the Mission’s Island Health Director Sharon Daley, Peggy Akers (University of Southern Maine College of Nursing’s Casco Bay Fishing and Island Partnership), Ann Backus of Harvard-T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Akers and Backus both collaborate with Daley on ways to promote Maine islanders’ health.
NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME — By the time you read this, a set of mid-life refurbishment specifications will have been sent to five Maine shipyards. I am pleased by the strong interest shipyards have shown in the project, as well as the quality of the yards considering the proposal. They are Billings Diesel and Marine, Stonington; Front Street Shipyard, Belfast; Portland Yacht Services; Rockland Marine Corporation; and Washburn and Doughty, East Boothbay.
By late March we should have a good idea of where the Sunbeam will head for its refit.
The temporary boat to replace the Sunbeam during the refit
Sunbeam Engineer Storey King has done a fabulous job researching, locating, and inspecting several possible boats to fill in during the Sunbeam’s absence. He located a 34-foot wooden Downeast Cruiser in Portland that has the capability to serve this role. She was recently surveyed by Rick Savage who was pleased with the boat’s condition, and the engine passed a rigorous “base pressure test” by Southworth Milton Caterpillar. In the next couple of weeks, this temporary boat will be trucked to Billings Diesel and Marine for routine maintenance and modifications to the interior. I am very excited by this addition to our fleet. She is a classic, handsome, and understated vessel with hints of lines from Sunbeam 3.
BAR HARBOR, ME — Following a lunch meeting at the Mission’s Colket Center headquarters, Sunbeam V Captain Mike Johnson, Island Health Director Sharon Daley, and Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman traveled to the Sunbeam in Northeast Harbor.
The crew had appointments on Vinalhaven and Matinicus Islands. But they were also watching the snowstorm due to hit Maine between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm Tuesday, February 12. Conditions were right, Capt. Mike Johnson said at yesterday afternoon’s meeting, for icing. That is, ice buildup on the Sunbeam exterior, which is especially bad news if you’re on the ocean, miles from land.
Capt. Johnson came up with a workaround plan, requiring the Sunbeam crew to travel off-schedule at odd hours, but enabling the crew to keep its island appointments in advance of the impending snowstorm.
In an email this morning to Mission President Scott Planting, Capt. Johnson said of the boat and crew:
We got to Vinalhaven around 6:30 PM and had dinner and went to bed. We got up at 11:45 PM and made the 1hour and 15 minute run to Matinicus.
There was slight icing on the run to Vinalhaven and none on the trip to Matinicus due to the downwind nature of the route. I don’t always get every detail perfect, but this one was planned well and was a comfortable easy trip.
We leave here today at 2PM.
President Planting said of Captain Johnson’s message: This is dedication.
www.foxbangor.com Tuesday, 29 January 2019 15:54 Mission boat to undergo overhaul Written by Devin Martin
BAR HARBOR – The Maine Seacoast Mission uses a boat to connect to a number of islands Downeast. That boat is about to get a complete renovation.
Based out of Bar Harbor, the mission has been serving the people of the Downeast islands for more than 100 hundred years.
But for the last 24 years, the mission has been using a boat named the Sunbeam V to get to people who live on some of the remote islands in the bay.
“The boat was a ministry, it was to take a pastor around to the outer islands. It has slowly morphed beyond that. We now do medical services on the boat and we also have a social component,” Capt. Mike Johnson said.
[T]he Sunbeam V is due for some repairs….
“All steel boats, they rust from the inside out,” Johnson said. “So if you take good very good care of the exterior of the boat, there’s still insidious little corrosion that’s starting so we’re getting little surface corrosion on the inside. So what that means is that we need to gut the entire interior of the boat.”
Those repairs will take about seven months to complete.
L-R Mission Island Health Director Sharon Daley, RN and Clinical Director and Family Nurse Practitioner Jennifer “Jen” Desmond
ABOARD THE ‘SUNBEAM V’ — Clinical Director and Family Nurse Practitioner Jennifer “Jen” Desmond flew out to Matinicus from Vinalhaven’s Islands Community Medical Services, Inc. to meet up with the Sunbeam V and the Mission’s Island Health Director Sharon Daley, RN and see some people in person. Family Nurse Practitioner Assists Mission Island Health Director on Matinicus Island
Jen was able to take care of things that would have required an expensive trip off island for some patients. Cold and windy day but Penobscot Island Air always provides great service.
So thanks to all in helping make this happen, including those who loaned us trucks for getting around. (Jennifer and I are pictured here at the Matinicus Island International Air-Strip.)
