Posted: 4/2/03

Wyoming boatbuilder sees boom in business

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Give Tom Moravec a job working as a carpenter and heís happy. Make that job building wood boats and the Wyoming man is ecstatic.

After nearly a quarter of a century of work as a boat builder, the owner of Sunrise River Boatworks has carried his business to new levels during the past year.

Moravec, 56, launched Sunrise River Boatworks in 1980 as a part-time venture at his home in Wyoming Township, just a stoneís throw from the river of the same name. He went full-time with the business three years ago and last fall made his biggest move yet.

In October of 2002, Moravec relocated the business from his garage shop to new quarters in the Norway Electric building, 5390 260th St., just up the street from the south Wyoming water tower. He has leased a 3200-square-foot production facility and has additional space in the building for boat storage plus off-site boat storage space available for customer lease.

The move to Wyoming, Moravec says, has given Sunrise River Boatworks the space it needs to grow and complete projects in a timely and efficient fashion.

The business specializes in classic and antique boat restoration and construction of boats that are often replicas of the classics. The shop also handles general repairs of wooden boats and can deal with mechanical problems and repairs, as well, the owner says.

Heís more than pleased by the decision to relocate.

ìI should have done it years ago,î he said.

ìI was concerned about the overhead and keeping costs down. But itís so efficient.î

Long a carpenter

ìIíve been a carpenter forever,î Moravec said recently during an interview at his Wyoming shop.

A St. Paul native, Moravec learned carpentry at an early age from relatives who made their living in the trade. With some adult supervision, he built his first garage when he was 15, Moravec said.

After high school graduation in 1965, Moravec worked a number of jobs before going to work for Pratt Construction as a home builder in the 1970s. Tom and Joan Moravec and their family moved to Wyoming Township in 1975.

He spent 1980 to 1987 as a carpenter for Macalester College in St. Paul, but hated the commute. The job at the college came at the same time he started the boat-building business on a part-time scale.

In the late 1980s he went to work for the ISD 831 Maroon and Gold Ice Arena as an assistant rink supervisor. As a Zamboni operator and maintenance worker, he had the flexibility of working closer to home and the job was seasonal giving him the summers off when the boat building business was at its peak, he said.

He held the ice arena job for a dozen years before stepping away in 1999 to devote full attention to Sunrise River Boatworks.

His love of working with wood for sure directed Moravec to an occupation in building and restoring boats, he said.

ìI had always wanted to build a wood boat,î Moravec said.

The idea of boat building swirled in his mind for several years. To learn about the trade, he worked part-time for a boatworks in White Bear Lake before going out on his own.

By 1980, Sunrise River Boatworks had been created and Moravec was doing what he had long dreamed of doing.

Loves the work

In his job as a boat builder, Moravec finds all facets of the work challenging and interesting. If he had to select his favorite project, Moravec said it would be new construction.

ìYou get to really use your skills,î he says of new construction. ìThatís really the challenge of wood working. They are difficult to build. Itís almost fun.î

In his Wyoming shop, Moravec can handle on average four jobs at a time with boats 32-feet long the maximum size for his shop.

He doesnít work alone.

Tim Demarais, 29, is a boat craftsman who has spent 11 years with Moravec. They met at the ice arena where Demarais also worked.

Dennis Peterson is on contract as shop mechanic for all motor and electrical projects. Upholstery projects are handled by Walt Thebauld on an outside contract.

A major area for Sunrise River Boatworks repair work comes from Criss Craft. ìCriss Craft was like the most famous, the most visible and prolific manufacturer of boats,î Moravec said.

From around 1922 to 1965, Criss Craft was one of the countryís leading boat builders and all were wood, Moravec says. The company still builds boats today but moved away from wood construction in 1965 because of cost.

But their beauty and collectible value remains. Each year, Moravec says, customers deliver boats for restoration. From time to time, an old Criss Craft that sat in storage for years is sold and restored.

ìMany of these boats are rat-holed away in peopleís barns and garages yet today,î Moravec says.

During its peak years, Criss Craft built over 100,000 wooden boats with styles ranging from small fishing boats to 60-foot river cruisers.

Business growth

The move from the shop at his home to the new location came as the business began experiencing steady growth.

Moravec attributes the growth in part to a professional web site developed for the business by Wyoming business owner Lynn Koalska of LEMK Graphics and Design.

The site ó www.sunriseriverboatworks.com ó went live in the summer of 2001.

In less than two years, the site has received well over 50,000 hits and many have led to contracts, Moravec said.

ìShe took care of everything,î Moravec said of the web site design. ìPeople didnít know about us,î he said.

ìI was getting most of my contracts by word of mouth. Thanks to the Internet, potential clients are seeing that our work is top notch and our prices are competitive.î

The boats in Moravecís shop are proof of the Internetís value. During a recent visit, a boat from St. Louis was in the shop for restoration. More job orders were on hand from accounts in St. Louis, Cincinnati and Los Angeles.

More boats were coming from Texas, Louisiana and Connecticut. ìSeventy-five percent of my work comes from around the country,î he said.

Moravecís price and performance are factors in the steady growth of the business. His customer service theme includes monthly updates with digital photographs e-mailed to the client to show the progress.

Most of the shopís work is with mahogany and white oak wood products that are imported. He utilizes the best wood available to achieve the best results possible.

Moravecís work has not gone unrecognized. He has won awards in boat show competition.

His work with a Century model earned best in show for antique-classic Century boats at the 2002 Antique and Classic Boat Society in Red Wing. Earlier, he won a top show event with a Criss Craft restoration at a show on Lake Minnetonka.

Although the economy is tight in many circles, Moravec continues to find accounts who are filling to invest in projects.

A new boat construction project completed by Sunrise River Boatworks will cost on average $1400 per foot plus the cost of the power. A 26-foot model, for example, will cost $36,000 to build with an additional $10,000 to power the boat, he says.

An average restoration project can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $14,000.

Moravec is not discouraged by the climate of the economy today. There is just too much to get excited about when it comes to building and restoring classic antique boats, he said.

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