Pat Mahon

Originally born in Minnesota, Pat Mahon grew up in Arizona, then moved to the Washington, D.C., area and eventually crossed paths with Bruce Nelson, a Maine-trained boatbuilder who took Pat under his wing. Working with Bruce rekindled a passion he had had for boats since his earliest years, building ships and boats from kits and reading everything he could find about ships and the sea. After a few years in D.C., Pat took off for England and was hired as an apprentice boatbuilder working on a 120′ wooden motoryacht. It was here that he learned what true craftsmanship could be. On returning to the U.S., he headed to Maine and helped build a variety of custom boats at yards in Boothbay Harbor, Camden, and Rockland. After 10 years, Pat moved to Port Townsend, Washington, with his wife Lisa. While there he worked with a large custom builder doing elegant interiors on mega yachts, and ran his own boatbuilding and repair shop. For 10 years at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building he taught woodworking, boatbuilding, and the new Contemporary Wooden Boat Building and Yacht Interiors curriculum. Next came another adventure and move to Michigan where Pat became Director of the new Great Lakes Boat Building School. During his 10 years with GLBBS, he designed and taught a two-year boatbuilding course, and worked with the board to develop the school policies, budgets, marketing strategies, and everything else required to launch and sustain a successful educational nonprofit. In July 2017, he returned to Port Townsend and has been involved in a major restoration of the 1903 Morecombe Bay Prawner ZISKA. Pat also takes time to do marine surveys, and is one of the few on the West Coast with the knowledge to accurately appraise a wooden vessel.