Fri 7/19/2019 6:35 PM
BAR HARBOR, ME — These are the first shots of the forward hull area that have been sandblasted and re-coated.
All that rust that we saw in previous pictures is gone and the steel looks like new. Ready for another 25 years!
‘Sunbeam V’ Captain Michael Johnson
Photo courtesy Front Street Shipyard, Belfast, ME
BELFAST, ME — Front Street Shipyard today tweeted this eye-opening photo and update on the Sunbeam V’s major routine refit.
We discovered a little more rust than we'd hoped for on SUNBEAM. pic.twitter.com/3o9MdmQPFE
— Front Street Shipyard (@FrontShipyard) July 3, 2019
BELFAST, ME — As Sunbeam Captain Michael Johnson says, “We’re getting into the nitty gritty now.”
The one photo, courtesy Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, ME, shows the Sunbeam V inside, out of the elements, ready for refit.
The second photo, courtesy Capt. Johnson, is the “nitty gritty” refit work underway in the Sunbeam salon.
Photo by Fran Gonzalez
VillageSoup.com
Front Street Shipyard refits Sunbeam V
A floating health clinic with a mission
By Fran Gonzalez | Jun 03, 2019
BELFAST — The first thing you notice when looking at the Sunbeam V, a black and white 74-foot steel boat docked at Front Street Shipyard, is the large cross painted on the bow.
According to Graham Fitch, shipyard project manager, the vessel is a telemedicine missionary vessel with the Maine Seacoast Mission, which serves remote islands east of Boothbay Harbor where health care access and mainland resources are limited.
The Mission’s website says the large cross dates from the late 1930s, when the international situation made it necessary to designate the vessel a mercy ship.
Built by Washburn and Doughty in East Boothbay, Sunbeam V was launched in 1995. A 250-horsepower single-screw diesel engine powers the vessel, which cruises at 10 knots. With its steel hull, the ship also has been called on to serve as an icebreaker, clearing harbors and protecting moored boats from damage.
NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME — Captain Michael Johnson sent this photo with a note: “I always think of the Sunbeam as being a decent sized vessel, but she is dwarfed by Front Street Shipyard’s lift.”
The Sunbeam is having a routine major refit. It is scheduled to be back in Mission service by Christmas 2019.
Meanwhile, the Sunbeam crew will keep up their island work aboard the new Moonbeam and on airplanes.