There's Uncertainty After Fire at Abbott Boats
Abbott Boats Inc., the Sarnia, Ontario-based builder,
was destroyed by fire over the weekend. The blaze, which leveled two
separate buildings, destroyed tooling for a number of one-design
classes. Worse, however, was far-reaching impact on the Abbott
family-run business, which has been in operation for more than 50 years. According to reports in the The Sarnia Observer, the cause of the fire is still unknown, and the investigation had been hampered by continual flare-ups earlier this week. The Observer
also reported that all five of the city's fire stations responded to
the fire shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday. As the fire consumed one
building and several boats, residents in nearby apartments were
evacuated. A second and separate fire, reportedly upwind of the first,
then broke out early in the morning, leveling the woodworking and
finishing shop. "My molding shop was fire No. 1," said Abbott
when reached by phone on Thursday. "All my molds are gone-Solings,
Ynglings, Martin 16s, Ultimate 20s, and Wayfarers. My 420 molds, too.
We got hit hard. "The second fire took all the production I
had ready for delivery. Finished boats, my assembly shop, my
woodworking shop
everything. The building burnt from front to back."
Abbott says he was near the facility on late Saturday afternoon,
helping Brad Boston pull out a brand new Ultimate 20, bound for the
North Americans in Oregon. Today, he'd set up office at a nearby fire
station and could not comment on the investigation, saying, "I can't
tell you what they're doing kicking around in what's left out there.
"This is very hard. Everyone says we have to keep going, but we're a
tight family business, and a lot has to be considered now. The Ultimate
20 group has told me that they don't want to loose their builder, and
they'll do anything they can to have me building again as fast as
possible. That show of support really helps shape the future for us,
but we have to assess everything, not just for ourselves. Our customers
know they weren't just buying boats from us, they were part of the
family business." One customer, speaking off the record, said
the class was devastated by the news, but was waiting to hear what
Abbott would do before making any decisions. Jeff Canepa, of
SailSports Inc., which markets the Ultimate 20, says he's doing
everything he can to get Abbott back online. "We still have all the
plugs [in California], and our builder in Italy has templates. They're
already making another set, and, between Italy and myself, we'll have
everything Bill needs to start again. I told him yesterday that
whatever happens, whenever he's ready I'll send him everything he needs
to be back into production before then end of the year."
Abbott says his own office is still standing, only singed on the
outside, and that it is somewhere from which to start, but he's still
dwelling on what he and his family have lost. "I think the hardest
thing is that our lives are there; our personal boats that we just
brought in to get ready for our own sailing season-they went. My racing
stuff went, my new Soling went, all my rigs. There were my duck decoy
molds, too. All of it is hard hitting. Everybody's home now, we'll be
putting on our work boots, and regrouping."
