Arch Davis

ARCH DAVIS grew up with boats in his family, in New Zealand during the 1950s. His first boatbuilding job was with Jim Young, starting in 1964, where he learned the basics of cold-molded construction, in addition to working in the design office. Arch’s passion was cruising on the northeast coast of New Zealand’s North Island in a variety of wooden boats. He moved to Maine in 1988 where he continued to work as a boatbuilder in local yards. He also started to design small boats for the backyard boatbuilder. With the success of his Penobscot 14 design, Arch was able to work full-time on design and producing kits. Since then, he has assembled a small collection of boat designs, documenting the process of building several of them on video. Remembering well his own fumbling’s during his early career, Arch goes to great lengths to make his plans as clear and detailed as possible, in addition to making himself available for advice to builders of all his designs. Nothing gives him more satisfaction than to hear from a builder who may have started out feeling a bit intimidated by the arena of boatbuilding terms and techniques, but who has graduated as the proud owner of a beautiful boat he or she has built. Arch lives in Belfast, Maine, with his wife Amy. His daughter, Grace, is a keen sailor who put many hours into the building of their own 30′ cruising sloop, GRACE EILEEN.