Chip Boats Review

Chip Boats is a small firm that specializes in the manufacture of a small line of daysailer boats. Based in Portland, Maine, Chip Boats eschews modern composite and fiberglass construction materials and uses only wood and metal in its rebuilt or from-scratch sailboats. The various models include cedar, white oak, mahogany, and spruce lumber in their materials lists.

Much of the description of the firm reads like a resume of the firm’s owner, detailing his work experience for a shipbuilder and then as a boat builder himself. The information highlights his love both of the sea and of working with wood. Founding Chip Boats allowed him to combine the two interests.

Pros

• This company gives new (or old) meaning to the term hand-crafted. Each boat gets individual attention from start to finish.
• The owner is both a builder and a refurbisher. A customer with a boat he wants refurbished could contact Chip Boats.

Cons

• Website information was scanty. Information from 2007 appeared to be what was most current. There did not appear to be a website for the manufacturer itself, only industry comparison websites and retail sites.
• Very limited line and even more limited distribution.
• Neither pricing information nor product reviews were available.
• Consumers who fear the decaying aspect of wood or who have ecological concerns about boats made almost exclusively of wood will not be interested in this firm’s products.

Featured Models

Chip Boats manufactures only sailboats, specifically daysailers. The product line includes the Knockabout, the Buzzards Bay 14, the Stuart Knockabout 28, the Boothbay Harbor O.D., the O Boat, the Small Point O.D., the Indian Knockabout and the Dark Harbor 15, which seems to be the company’s newest product.

The daysailers from Chip Boats vary in size and in form. The smallest—the Knockout—is under 17 feet long, has a 5-foot beam and a water displacement of only 600. The largest boat in the line is the Knockabout 28. It is 28 feet long, with a 7-foot beam and a displacement value of 4000.

Conclusion

Someone interested in purchasing a boat from Chip Boats would need to do some legwork to determine what the current state of the company is and what its existing product line is. If the firm is still producing, then the customer purchasing a boat is likely to have a very fine showcase piece that is the envy of friends and family. Given the scanty and outdated information available online, though, there seems to be a great deal of uncertainty about what is available, what the lead-time would be on a special refurbishing job, whether the company warrants its products, and how the price for a Chip Boat would compare to that of a similar product.