TREASURE COAST BOATING
SPORT FISHING
97
1986 to 2012. “I ran that boat for 26 years and I wish I was
still running it. It was a natural fish-raiser. I always felt confident,
like I had a good friend in that boat. In 1990, she was as
fast as any new boat. It was the best head sea boat ever and it
always brought me home.”
Built in 1963 by Whiticar Boat Works in Stuart, the 54-foot
Sea Lion II sank at Jensen Beach Docks during Hurricane Irma
after being impaled by pilings which left three large, gaping
holes on the port side. There was a huge uproar on social
media in 2017 when the boat was hours away from being
dismembered by chainsaws. Charles Orr, a Houston electrical
contractor, stepped in to purchase the boat and restore it.
More than 2,000 people are following the boat’s restoration
on Facebook.
It was raised, towed to Allied Marine in Stuart and pulled
from the water. The three largest boat builders in South
Florida — including Whiticar — turned down the restoration
job, saying it was just too much for them. So then the problem
was where to have the boat restored.
GOOD TIMING
As luck would have it, Willis Marine in Stuart had just
finished four grueling years building the 77-foot sport-fishing
boat Uno Mas. As workers prepared to scatter to other jobs,
the building and the five-man crew of master boat builders
became available.
Orr’s captain Jeff Frank closed the deal to restore the Sea
Lion II and put the workers on the payroll. Otherwise, he had
planned to start in Maine and work his way down the coast,
looking for a boatyard who could take on the restoration.
“There are not a lot of guys left with the skills for a job like >>
Former President Richard
Nixon poses at Montauk,
N.Y., with Jim Carey,
captain of the Sea Lion II
for 26 years.
JIM CAREY PHOTOS
Nixon autographed this photo taken with employees of Sea Lion II owner Jim Abplanalp (yellow jacket) during a visit to Walker’s Cay, Bahamas.