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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend May 2, 2006 Welder Greg Garrigus works on the interior of a 44-foot, 49-passenger Boulton aluminum boat headed for a resort in Alaska. North to Alaska Rogue Valley boatbuilder prepares to send 'Miss Cindy' to inland waters By GREG STILES Mail Tribune As Rogue Valley aluminum boats go, this one is big in every way. Boulton Powerboats is putting the finishing touches on its biggest — and most expensive — watercraft yet, a 44-foot-long by 14-foot-wide boat built for an Alaskan resort. Three Chevy 496 motors, churning out 425 horsepower each, propel the turquoise craft at speeds surpassing 50 mph with a range of 250 miles. Thirteen bay windows and a rear observation deck will give tourists optimum whale-watching views. Salmon Falls Resort put in an order for the $500,000, 44-passenger boat in October, and Boulton Powerboat crews have spent the past six months engineering, fabricating and assembling the watercraft. The largest previous undertaking by the Crater Lake Highway boatbuilder was a 34-by-12-foot boat owned by Medford engineer John Hardy. Three in four of the company's boats are 20 feet to 24 feet long, with the rest in a growing class of larger craft. Advertisement The bigger boats, however, take longer to manufacture, so owner Mike Boulton expects to produce around 120 boats this year compared to 135 in 2005. Still, he expects to match last year's $5 million-plus in sales. "Aluminum is still a growing trend," Boulton says."Some of the fiberglass boats have gotten so expensive that aluminum is appealing and it needs very little preventive maintenance." The Miss Cindy joins sister 44-footers known as the Miss Jessica and Miss Sara, both built in 1993, and Miss Lisa, built in 1994. The previous three boats were built in Grants Pass by the company that runs Hellgate Excursions. The boats are operated by Salmon Falls Resort, 17 miles north of Ketchikan on Alaska's Inland Passage. The ships are named after owner Al and Shirley White's daughters and granddaughters. Shirley White says the fishing lodge's 20,000 visitors, seeking salmon and halibut, come primarily from the southeast and southwest U.S. Joel Shepard, formerly with Hellgate, designed the first three tour boats and the Whites followed him to Boulton Powerboats. "Very few people build this particular type of tour boat," Boulton says. "Since Joel had worked with the construction of the boats for the lodge and was familiar with the patterns and designs, we were able to duplicate them. It gave us an opportunity for us to diversify our fleet even more." Two weeks ago, Boulton Powerboats delivered a 26-foot boat to a Navy base at Mayport, Fla., the third harbor craft the company has supplied to the Navy. "We're crossing our fingers that they'll want quite a few more," Boulton says. "They spit out a rumor they'll want 100, but we've yet to see that. We have laid a couple eggs, but we don't want to count them until they hatch. We'll give them a few months and hope they want some more in the next year." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisements Advertisement