After a long cold fall season in 2010, I started to look for a more comfortable boat to charter out of.  I have chartered out of several styles and makes of boats and had a good idea of what I wanted.  I was armed with the following requirments:

- 24-26′ boat
- 8’6″ beam as I trailer a lot and don’t want to deal with wide load permits.
- a pilot house that can comfortably handle 4-6 clients plus myself
- very well built boat.  I had been through 3 boats in the last 5 years that I had rattled loose screws, and fixtures and I did not want to deal with this.

After much research, I settled on an All weld aluminum West Coast style pilot house boat. This style of boat is nothing like our boats in Ontario.  I scheduled appointments at a few factories in BC and Washington state and flew out to tour the facilities and water test the boats.  I came home with a 26′ Wooldridge SS pilot house on order (www.wooldridgeboats.com). The aluminum boats we are used to are significantly thinner (.10 vs 0.19) they are also a weaker aluminum alloy 5052 vs 5086 which is 30% stronger.  Therefore the aluminum used in a Wooldridge is double the thickness and 30% stronger then what most of the aluminum boats are in our market.  The Wooldridge boat is also significantly better built as you will see in the pictures below. Everything from the pilot house, to cleats are welded on not bolted.  Therefore, nothing will rattle loose from daily pounding.  The Wooldridge boat company is owned and operated by 3 generations of Wooldridge’s.  These guys not only know their boats, but as a family business they have unequaled customer service and pay great attention to details.  I was able to water test a boat, and walk through the factory as well as totally customize the boat for my needs.  The Wooldridge ss pilot house is a dream to fish out of and a pleasure to host clients on.  Below are the pictures of the build process.  I hope you enjoy seeing them, and I look forward to the opportunity to host you on this beautiful vessel.

Captain,
Scott Walcott