Fred Wahl Marine Construction has become a fixture in Reedsport, Oregon, and knowing that a boat was built there inspires confidence. But 50 years ago, when Wahl started the business in Depoe Bay, he borrowed his father’s tools and used space in his shop. “I got my own building in 1980,” he shares.
Wahl grew into the business naturally, from helping in his father’s shop at twelve and welding crab pot frames at 14. In his early twenties, he worked at Yaquina Boatworks and found mentors along the way. “I grew up in a mechanical atmosphere, and I found I had some mechanical abilities and was a little bit of an artist. I love to doodle and sketch,” says Wahl. “When I started at Yaquina an old guy there told me: ‘when you’re building a boat, it has to be pleasing to the eye.’ And another guy, Dan Kavanaugh, told me: ‘Don’t be afraid of size. If you can weld two inches, you can weld around the world.’”
Fred Wahl banked those early lessons and has spent decades drawing on the interest. “My first boat was a family boat, a 48-foot crabber and salmon troller. Then, I started building some Jensen designs. I built about 6 of those. In 1988, I was on the cover of National Fisherman with a Jensen boat. I was so proud.”
While he started building stick-built boats, fitting and cutting steel, Wahl quickly discovered the efficiency of CNC cutting machines, and by the end of the 80s, he realized he needed more room. “Depoe Bay is the smallest harbor in Oregon,” he says. “In 1991, we bought an old shipyard here in Reedsport, cleaned it up, and started building and repairing boats. Since I started the business, we’ve built about 50 new boats and repaired probably thousands.”
While he has built a few king crab boats like the Vixen in 1998 and the Victory in 2013, Wahl is best known for his 58-footer, nicknamed the Super 8. He laughs, “I got a lot of people mad at me with that boat. One guy said it was too safe and too efficient. They couldn’t compete with it. It holds 275,000 pounds of salmon. I say it’s an 85-footer in a 58-foot boat.”
Wahl designed the boat in the early 2000s. “We’ve got some talented young gentlemen on computers, doing AutoCAD. Me, I can’t even spell computer, but I have a pencil and that’s where it starts.” Wahl initially drew up a 58 by 27-foot hull. “But I didn’t like the way it looked,” he says. “Not pleasing to the eye. So, I took it down to 26 and we built about 15 of those.”
According to Wahl, he built the first boat for himself, Fred Wahl Marine, and sold boats built on that model. “Then we built a 28.5-foot wide one, and we built about four of those, and a 22.5 wide seiner, we built, I think, three of those. If you don’t run up on a rock with one of these 58-footers and take good care of it, it’ll last you a long time.”
Wahl continues building boats for himself. The latest is the 68-foot Uyak, launched in 2023. “We sent it up to Alaska tendering last year and again this year. I don’t think we got a third of the fish this year as we got last year.” But Fred Wahl is not worried, in 50 years he has seen a lot of the ups and downs in the fishery and boatbuilding. “I saw king crab go down in the 90s to the point where the joke was if you opened a bank account in Seattle, they’d give you either a toaster or a king crab boat. Then the crab came back, and those guys made a lot of money. Things are down with fishing now, but hopefully, it’ll come back. Fortunately, we have enough work to keep us going.”
To celebrate its 50 years and counting, Fred Wahl Marine Construction will host an open house from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM every day from August 26 to August 30.
