BRUCE ATKINSON
BRUCE ATKINSON
A BOATBUILDING LEGACY
One of three 100 passenger boats Bruce built for O ’ Brien Whale and Bird Tours , NFLD .
Although Bruce Atkinson has been retired for several years , we wanted to spotlight his hard work , innovation , and dedication to the boat building industry . Bruce has built everything from 10-foot and 11-foot wide wooden boats to his last build , a 28-foot-wide fibreglass boat . Bruce ’ s grandfather Ephraim Atkinson is credited with designing the first Cape Islander fishing boat in 1908 .
Bruce was called to work with his father , Herbert Atkinson , at the early age of 17 in 1948 . One of the first important jobs was when his dad said to him , “ Get the boiler up steam , pick out 40 of the best ribs ( timbers ) and let me know when you think they are ready to take out .” These ribs , when fully steamed , were bent along wooden moulds to make the shape of the boat . One of the other important jobs that Bruce was called to do during the younger years was the installation of the engines and hardware .
In 1979 Bruce and his brother Freebert realized that making fibreglass boats was the way to go and decided to make moulds in different widths . The demand for fibreglass hulls was such that these two moulders were supplying hulls to boatbuilders all across Nova Scotia and beyond for a number of years .
BRUCE CONTINUED ON HIS OWN , SETTING UP MANY MOULDING AND FINISHING SHOPS THROUGH THE YEARS AND PRODUCING HUNDREDS OF FISHING BOATS FOR FISHERMEN THROUGHOUT THE ATLANTIC PROVINCES AND THE U . S . it in the Miami International Yacht Show in February 1992 . He and other crew members motored it as far as Fort Lauderdale ( a 21-day trip ), wintered it there and finished the trip to Miami in February .
On the second day of the show , a couple gentlemen came aboard and introduced themselves as the owners of the Monk ‘ 36 . After seeing the quality of Bruce ’ s boat and after much negotiation back and forth , it was decided to have all the fibreglass components of their yacht shipped from Central America to Bruce ’ s shop in Clark ’ s Harbour , Nova Scotia , where he was contracted to build these fine crafted yachts , which subsequently brought in millions of dollars to the local community .
Bruce has received several awards through the years but his Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015 from the Nova Scotia Boatbuilding Association is his most rewarding .
At 90 years old , Bruce is truly a boat building legend and surely a man of his time . We ’ re grateful to maintain a relationship with Bruce and fortunate to have his daughter Deborah working on our team here at West Head Boatbuilders .
Although Bruce was dedicated to building boats for the local market , he always visualized building yachts for the U . S . and Canadian markets . Bruce knew he had qualified craftsmen to do the job and so in 1991 he built an upscale yacht and entered
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