24. Brewer Yacht Yards

Largest Boatyard Chain in U.S. Goes Green

* -- Numbers in parentheses refer to the number of marinas in a state or on a waterbody.

Environmental change

Environmental changes, promoted and supported by the owner, have advanced the nation's largest full-service boatyard chain into a leadership position in the marina industry for its care of customers and boats, clean water, and profits.

The full-service boatyard/marina chain

Fifteen Brewer yacht yards, which form the nation's largest full-service boatyard chain, are located in five northeastern states, on 10 major waterbodies from Maine to New York. All are located in a coastal string, with each less than an hour's drive from the next, or within a 2-hour cruise by boat (with the exception of the Maine yard). The chain started with the purchase of one boatyard in 1964, then 17 more through 1995. Three of the yards-Brewer's Pilots Point, Sakonnet, and Yacht Haven-are combinations of two or three nearby marinas.

The Brewer yacht yards have a combined summer total of 3,945 slips, 200 dry racks and 58 moorings, for a total capacity of 4,203 boats, averaging 280 per facility. The yards have a winter dry storage of 540 boats indoors and 4,000 boats outdoors. Pilots Point is the largest with 850 slips; Post Road, with 50, is the smallest. Chain-wide, about 40% of the boats are sailboats and 60% are powerboats. The sizes of the boats kept in slips range from 22 feet LOA up to 709 feet LOA, with the average around 35 feet LOA. Less than 2% of the slips are used by liveaboards. Transient slips are available at every facility. Nine of the yards have added swimming pools for customers' use. There are 10 waterfront restaurants in the chain, and all have some type of food, drink, and ice available. Fuel docks, laundry, restrooms/showers, and pumpouts are available at all Brewer yards.

Each boatyard moves boats with a one or more travel lifts, a hydraulic trailer, a crane, and a forklift. In addition to wet and dry boat storage, most facilities offer launching/haulout, fiberglass repair, carpentry, engine repair, painting, and sail/rigging repair. In 1994 Brewer contracted with the national retail chain Boater's World to establish and lease ship's stores in 10 boatyards.

Five of the Brewer yacht yards are located on sites that have been continuously in maritime use for a hundred or more years-Brewers South Freeport (Maine), Plymouth (Massachusetts), Wickford (Rhode Island), Dauntless (Connecticut) and Post Road (New York). The Dauntless, South Freeport, and Plymouth yards have been building boats and ships since the 1700s. It is estimated that the Brewer yacht yards combined provide access to 106,250 people during each summer boating season. (access for the publci is estimated by multiplying the total number of boats used during the boating season [4,250] by 25, the average number of people who use a boat one or more times a season)

Management measures

Brewer yacht yards comply with most of the marina management measures, including water quality assessment, habitat assessment, shoreline stabilization, storm water runoff control, fueling station design, sewage facility, maintenance of sewage facilities, solid waste, liquid materials, petroleum control, boat cleaning, and public education.

Environmental improvements

"When boaters comes to a Brewer yacht yard, they know what to expect," stated Jack Brewer. "They find a clean facility, well landscaped with flowers, floats in good condition, and free pumpouts. We treat them properly and give value for their money. Our environmental program enhances our reputation. We try to exceed the industry standards because the northeastern public wants it and marinas, as are boats, are highly visible. Our motivation [for environmental improvement] is that Brewer's want to be the best chain, with the best service, for the best customers, to make the best profit."

"Years ago," Brewer explained, "I used to think that holding tanks were stupid. I preferred macerator-type boat toilets [MSD types I and II]. But now just the thought about all that sewage discharge into our water bothers me. I thought that we've got to start somewhere and decided to make an effort to clean up. Because we are a small but highly visible industry, we have to do it. Now all Brewer marinas have boat holding tank [MSD type III] pumpout stations, which typically cost between $20,000 and $30,000 each installed. Five facilities received Clean Vessel Act grants." (See Case Study 4, Brewer's Cove Haven Marina)

"Pumpouts are free to our customers. In 1995, for example, three southern Rhode Island Brewer marinas-in Cowesett, Wickford, and Sakonnet-pumped out a total of 6,000 tanks."

Brewer Yacht Yards started making chain-wide environmental improvements in 1986 and 1987. "When I hired Captain Ed Wiegand, a retired Coast Guard officer, as the marina manager of Brewer's Mystic Marina (Connecticut), he was concerned about oil spills at our fuel docks and said the right thing to do was to have oil spill containment booms and pads available. It cost us about $1,800 per facility. Even those without a fuel dock got spill control supplies. Each year since then we've used them once or twice chain-wide," said Brewer. "Now everyone is happy."

"In 1988-89, we all began recycling used oil. Since then 10 of the yards have purchased used oil burners (average cost $5,000; annual saving $2,500 year). We even tried a solvent cooker to recycle waste solvents, but it didn't work so well for us. Now all the yards have their used solvents picked up commercially, and that works well."

"We do three things very well and always have-boat slips, storage, and repairs. From the earliest days, our best profit center was slip rentals. We are very serious about service work, which averages 45% to 50% of our gross income. Slips bring 30% to 33% of the gross income, 17% to 33% comes from winter storage, and the remainder from sublet labor, fuel sales, and building rentals," said Brewer.

Jack Brewer, owner of Brewer Yacht Yards, stands beside the sign for Wickford Cove Marna (RI).

"However, we went on with our environmental improvements. Gradually all the yards will be fitted with traps to collect and filter bottom wash water. Every yard now uses high-volume/low-pressure spray guns when painting to reduce the release of VOCs [volatile organic compounds], increasing the volume of paint that gets on the boat instead of into the air, lowering the amount of paint used, and decreasing cleanup costs."

"Realizing that the easiest part of the business is slip rentals, we decided to add extra advantages to attract customers to our marinas. Since this is a very family-oriented business, we added pools at nine facilities. Some also have exercise rooms, saunas, and hot tubs," Brewer added.

"In 1985 we began landscaping our yards. It really started when Pilots Point Marina spent almost $6,000 to make the place a better environment. Now we are spending well over $100,000 per year on improving the landscaping at our yards. I feel it is a good investment. If we can sell 12 to 15 more slips per marina, landscaping isn't expensive. We are attracting a better quality, upscale customer with more disposable money. They are seeking nicer marinas. After buying Yacht Haven Marina in 1995, we spent $100,000 in landscaping. Eighty percent was spent to create a 20-foot-wide buffer strip along the 1,000-foot-long bulkhead, planted with shrubs, trees, and flowers and mulched to create a nice-looking runoff filter. Good landscaping and a clean yard make our customers, employees, and everyone feel good."

Another improvement has been to upgrade every restroom and shower in the entire boatyard chain. With most of the improvements done by each yard's staff, the managers had an informal competition to see who could create the nicest restroom. "Now we encourage all customers to use our facilities instead of their boat toilets when in our docks."

The Brewer yards have replaced most of their underground fuel tanks with aboveground tanks equipped with all proper environmental controls. Even though the average cost per marina has been $100,000 to make the conversion and some parking spaces have been lost, aboveground tanks are less expensive to buy and easier to monitor for spills. Eventually all will be converted.

Over the years Brewer Yacht Yards has hired environmental consultants to do safety and environmental assessments, at an annual chain-wide cost of about $25,000. Always looking for a more cost-effective way to do business, Jack Brewer noted that "starting in 1996, we will have a trained environmental expert in-house. During the boating season he will work as the dockmaster at Pilots Point Marina, but will spend winter months visiting each yard. This way he will be kept working all year, but his winter salary will be split between all the yards, for a net saving of $10,000. While the safety/environmental assessment part is reasonable, follow-up and implementation of the suggestions can cost considerably more and can vary from yard to yard. But it's money well spent."

Each Brewer yard actively encourages customers to visit other Brewer marinas in the northeastern chain by offering a Preferred Customer Card. This program gives each boat up to six free nights of transient dockage, preferential reservations, a 50% discount on extra dockage nights, free pumpouts, and 10 or 15 cent discounts on fuel purchased at any Brewer Yacht Yard.

To manage dog waste on docks and marina land, "pooper scoopers" are used. "Last spring, three yards-at Cowesett, Sakonnet, and Greenport-ran cleanups by customers and staff of the shores around each marina. We gave out coffee and donuts during those Saturday mornings." These events and other environmental information are promoted in The Tide Watch, a colorful newsletter sent out by Brewer Yacht Yards once a year to approximately 8,000 customers.

"When customers are doing their own repairs, they are strongly encouraged at most yards and required at two yards to use tarps beneath the hulls. Dustless vacuum sanders are used by all our staff and are available for rent by customers," Brewer said. "Soon tarps and dustless sanders will be mandatory at all Brewer locations."

Generally, all Brewer yacht yards add a 1% environmental surcharge onto all work invoices. This money is earmarked for pollution prevention training, education, reducing runoff, landscaping, environmental fees, and cleanup supplies. The surcharge has provided the extra income needed to keep making improvements to the marina environment. "On the average, the 1% surcharge works well," Brewer explained. "It may be under at one location one year, but generates excess funds another year depending on what is required."

There is a saying in the industry that every marina is for sale at the right price. Jack Brewer buys them right, then improves the property and business. Being a very practical and frugal owner, he understands that the best long-term reason to improve environmental practices is that some day each yard will be sold. "If we are going to maintain the value of our property, we must make each environmentally clean. No one will buy or lend a mortgage to any marina without a clean Phase II test, including drilling and boring tests." They invest with sights on long-term return on boatyard investments.

All the Brewer Yacht Yard managers share Jack Brewer's business philosophy to run clean, neat facilities. Some managers are even more passionate about environmental protection and are proactive in their marine trade association's involvement with state coastal regulatory agencies. They all learned the lesson, during the depths of the recent recession [1989-1993], that customers do move to better facilities with good service and a clean, healthy environment. In each region, Brewer yards are generally the price leader, but they typically have the fullest slips, hard-working staff, and loyal customers.

Going green was not cheap, but clearly has been good value for Brewer Yacht Yards' business.

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