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Extreme makeovers: converting or remodeling an existing boat can be an attractive alternative to building a new one.

Article Excerpt
A lot of people will tell you that very few new boats are being built for commercial fishermen and that generally speaking, boatbuilding is in the tank. To an extent that's true: excluding scallopers and large clam boats, there aren't a lot of new boats being built.

But then again, why should you build a new boat when you can improve your present boat by widening and lengthening it, or doing something as simple as adding a new wheelhouse? And why ante up the money for a new boat when there are (unfortunately) plenty of repossessed Gulf of Mexico shrimp boats available as a result of cheaply priced foreign shrimp flowing into the U.S. market?

Also available are boats that are being moved out of the offshore oil business. For a lot less money than building a boat from the keel up, these boats can be converted to fishing.

In either case--improving your present boat or converting an existing boat--you won't be paying for as much steel as you would with a new boat, and at today's prices, that's important. You also won't have to wait 12 to 18 months for a new boat to be built. So actually, for fishermen who can have an existing boat modified to meet their needs, there is a lot of boatbuilding going on--it's just not new boats.

Extending the life of existing boats isn't only being done for offshore steel boats. A few New England lobstermen are choosing to rebuild inshore fiberglass boats instead of having new ones built.

The shrimp-boat pool

When it comes to recycling steel boats, most of the boatyards doing the work are in the Gulf of Mexico and on the West Coast. In the gulf, there's no shortage of boats to work with. Tim Jemison of Jemison Marine estimates there are 55 repossessed shrimpers tied to the docks around Bayou La Batre, Ala.

That's not to say that Jemison's Bayou La Batre boatyard hasn't been working to put as many boats as possible back into the business of fishing, even if it isn't for shrimp. Jemison Marine has converted 23 boats in the past 18 months. Six of...

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