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| Carrying
on a Tradition of Excellence and Innovation
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Blount
Boats, Incorporated is a full-service shipyard specializing in
innovative boat design, engineering, craftsmanship, and repair.
This
company is the result of the combined talents of Luther H. Blount
and
dedicated employees, which total over 500 years of experience in
the shipbuilding industry.
Founded as Blount Marine Corporation in 1949 by 84-year old Luther
H.
Blount, a leading innovator in the shipbuilding industry, Blount
Boats
designs and builds steel, aluminum and HITECH composite vessels
utilizing both proven and new naval architect designs and through
engineering services. Its clients are among the most successful
businesses in the industry.
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Blount
Boats, which employs 50
people, is located on six acres of
land along the Warren River in
Warren, Rhode Island, 15 miles south
of Providence, the state capital. Its
shipyard has various facilities
including a lift dock, which services
vessels up to 300 tons; a main
construction shop; fabricating and
machine shops; and a second
construction shed. "Service lives of
our vessels are measured in decades,
not years, " is the company motto.
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The
company builds sound, long-lasting, and cost-effective boats for
customers around the world. Each is designed with the operator’s
needs
held in first consideration. Over 300 boats have been built on the
prem-
ises since the company was first founded, including fast commuter
boats,
dinner excursion boats, passenger and passenger/vehicle ferries,
small
ship cruise vessels, tugs, bunkering tankers, oil supply boats,
commercial
fishing boats, and glass- bottom boats.
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One
of the most famous vessels built
on the Water Street shipyard was the
130-foot, 600-passenger Miss Liberty
(seen right). The boat, built in 1952,
has carried more than 60,000,000
passengers from Manhattan to the
Statue of Liberty for the Circle Line.
She is believed to have carried more
total passengers than any other vessel
in the world. Over the last 28 years,
the shipyard has built a total of 20
dinner cruise ships with the most rec-
ent vessel, the Horizon, completed in
March of 2000. The horizon is cons-
idered by many to be the most modern
and elegant vessels operating in New
York Harbor.
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Blount
Boats offers top quality workmanship and delivery at competitive
prices. Its loyal workforce has the most years of experience and
technical
know-how of any other shipyard on the East Coast. The company has
expanded its in-house design capability and is now actively bidding
on
designs from other naval architects and firms.
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Blount
- a Shipbuilding Legend
Luther Blount (seen below) has built a long-standing reputation
in the
marine industry as an innovator, beginning with the invention of
the stern
trawler, and the net/drum technology that changed the fishing industry
forever. He currently holds 21 U.S. patents for numerous inventions
that
revolutionized the shipbuilding, fishing and cruise industries.
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Luther Blount, Founder
Shown here with one of many
industry changing inventions.
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In
1949, Luther decided to try his hand
at shipbuilding, a trade which had
always intrigued him. After an initial try
with a 77’ steel catamaran, he bid and
won a job to construct a fuel oil service
vessel for which he used the same
catamaran concept based on two
cylindrical floats, which he dubbed the
"twin tube." The twin tube was succ-
eeded by a progression of larger and
more complex vessels resulting in a
quantum expansion of the shipyard,
demolition of the original Blount
home on the site, and new facilities
including a slipway, two building sheds
and a lift dock configured for launching
and drydocking.
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By
late 1952, Blount had designed and built three 65- foot passenger
vessels: two were under 15 gross tons and the third was an "H"
vessel
which, if a United States Coast Guard certificate was to be awarded
at
that time, had to be built under the Coast Guard rules.
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Around
1955, the "Blount 65" had made its debut and was an immediate
success with ferry, commuter and excursion operators. This type
of
vessel was just under 65’ long (an important "break point"
in Coast Guard
regulations), had roughly the same shape of a flatiron in plan view,
typically carried some 250 passengers per hour. Many of these standard
vessels are still in service, some in remote corners of the world.
They
are instantly recognizable by anyone in the small passenger vessel
trade.
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Looking
to get a toe-hold in the New England fishing industry, the Blount
yard designed and built the world’s first small stern trawler,
the
Narragansett, in 1962. Although Blount gained three patents on the
invention, it was widely copied and no fisherman was ever charged
a fee.
The net-drum technology has been applied throughout the world and
practically every small trawler uses this rig.
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During
the 1980’s, a group of "Spirit Class" dinner boats
were const-
ructed with three decks designed for cruising U.S. harbors including
Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Chicago, and
Los
Angeles. These are stylized vessels with sophisticated galleys capable
of serving some 400-600 passengers on taking in harbor sights. The
Le Bateau dinner boat, built in 1972, is believed to be the first
to operate
in the U.S., launching this segment of the cruise industry in America.
Over the last 28 years, the Blount shipyard has built a total of
20 dinner
cruise ships for customers worldwide.
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While
the many vessels constructed to date have made the Blount name
widely known, it has been good workmanship, new innovations, and
a
diversity of developments that have brought the Blount organization
the
distinction as a "Leader of Shipbuilding of Vessels from 50’
to 250’" by the
maritime industry.
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From
this humble beginning, Luther’s "backyard" became
known as
Blount Industries, a corporate enterprise which has grown today
to a
$10 million company that includes several successful sideline busine-
sses: Bay Queen Cruises, a popular dinner/excursion boat which
operates year-round; and American Canadian Caribbean Line, a small
ship cruise line which boasts a fleet of three 84 to 100 passenger
ships
which ply the easterly waters of North, Central and South America.
Luther’s son-in-law operates the Bay Queen, and his daughter
operates
American Canadian Caribbean Line.
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Today,
Blount Boats is charting a course to remain a strong, innovative
and successful leader in the marine industry. For further information,
call
(401) 245-8300 or write Blount Boats, 461 Water Street,
P.O. Box 368, Warren, RI 02885 USA.
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