The premier issue of PropTalk hit newsstands in July 2005, and a very special boat named Sawdust graced that inaugural cover. She is a Thomas Point 43, built by Mast and Mallet in Edgewater, MD. Captain Rick Franke reached out to the builder, Joe Reid, and you can read more about his take on the legacy of Sawdust in the July issue. Now we get to hear from the current owner, Thomas Menighan, whose love affair with big boats, and specifically powerboats, didn’t begin until later in life.
“I grew up on the Ohio River on what I call the ‘West Coast of West Virginia,’” says Tom. “My love for wood boats began long ago with my first boating mentor, Ed Faddoul, who had a 24-foot wooden Skiff Craft we used on the Ohio River. Then I built an eight-foot plywood hydroplane in high school shop class from a Popular Mechanics magazine plan.
“When I was in college, I came across a small, old sailboat in the garage of Dr. Ralph Boone, who would later become my brother-in-law. It was a wooden Comet (hull 2447) built in the 1930s in New York—how it found its way to West Virginia is a bit of a mystery. I bought the boat for $50, bought a little book on how to sail, and learned two rules: Always sail upriver, and never go when you’re in a hurry. I still have that boat and keep her in Sisterville. For many years I was a sheet hanger and never really thought about being a stink potter.”
Fast forward a few years and Tom took a job in Washington, DC, and moved his family to Northern Virginia. For three months during the transition, he lived with his sister Jean in Annapolis. That is when Tom “became infected with bigger boats.” It all started when he met Rich Kahn at Annapolis Sailyard. “Rich introduced me to bigger boats,” he says. “I bought a Morgan 41 with two partners and kept her at Chart House for many years before moving her to the Caribbean where we kept her in charter service with Nick Stark from Annapolis and Island Yachts in St. Thomas.”
In 2000, Tom moved back to Annapolis and bought a Pearson 34 sloop with Jim Caro, Mike Poole, and Mark Merlino. After a decade of partnership, they sold her, and he was between boats. Tom had maintained a relationship with Rich, whom he calls a “dear friend and knower of all things boating.” One day in 2012, Tom and his wife Bonny attended a used boat show at Chesapeake Harbour Marina. That’s when everything changed. He says, “I remember vividly where Sawdust was sitting (tied up against the bulkhead at what was then Sam’s on the Waterfront, now the Beacon), and I was immediately smitten.”
What exactly caught his eye about Sawdust? Tom says, “Her lines are a perfect Downeaster. Years of cruising on a mentor’s Ohio River Skiff Craft, Poor House, influenced my taste!”
At the time Tom remembers wondering if he could even afford a boat like that. He asked Rich to take a look, and the idea of a partnership blossomed. It didn’t hurt that Bonny loved Sawdust, too. Tom says, “She is amazing at keeping her ship shape.”
For Tom, that is when the “love affair” with Sawdust began. “It’s been a wonderful ride,” he says.
Sawdust is the third boat Tom has owned with a total of six partners. “Partnerships can be a great way to own a boat, large or small,” he says. “Benefits include the sharing of expenses and keeping the boat active when no one partner typically has time to use a boat frequently. It’s important to create a partnership agreement that addresses share of ownership, scheduling, expense allocation, and how to end a partnership when inevitably one partner has life changes that create new decisions. I’ve been blessed with seven great partners over three boats. In each case we had such an agreement that helped us navigate change.”
Rich and Elaine Kahn were amazing partners and, along with Tom and Bonny, owned Sawdust from 2012 up until last year when the Menighans became the sole owners and moved her to Chesapeake Harbour Marina. “We originally kept her at Severn House in Back Creek,” says Tom. “We’ve had to do various things to keep her in good shape over the years, but we’ve really worked to keep her the way Joe built her.”
Sawdust was built in 2000, measures 43 feet long with a 13-foot beam, and cruises comfortably at eight to nine knots (only burning 4 GPH). She sleeps five with a V-berth, crew cabin, and drop-down dinette into a bunk. And there were never any thoughts of changing the name. Tom says, “When you call Mast and Mallet, the answering machine picks up and says, ‘Everyone’s busy making Sawdust! Leave us a message.’ There’s no way we would change the name!”
Recently Tom caught up with Keith Gunther, who put the original engine in Sawdust and remembers working with the original owner, George Sass. “Keith has an engine shop down in Holiday Point where we lay her up for the winter every other year,” says Tom. “Keith remembers that the engine, a Cat diesel, was rebuilt about 2100 hours ago when George Sass owned the boat. George, a boating journalist, did the Great Loop in Sawdust, and there was a cover story in
Soundings about it.”
In fact, Tom says so many people still recognize the boat to this day thanks to the PropTalk cover in 2005 and the stories that George Sass wrote. “Almost every time we travel with Sawdust, someone recognizes her,” he says. “We just went over to Spa Creek the other night and grabbed a mooring ball. We enjoyed watching the Pride of Baltimore II sail in and out and watched the MRE .05K race. But the real highlight, and this is not unusual, was when a 48-foot Hinckley circled the boat filming us and they said, ‘She’s beautiful!’ and we yelled, ‘So’s yours!’ It’s all thanks to the architect, Mike Kaufman, and the builder,
Joe Reid.”
In 2018 or 2019 Tom remembers fondly traveling down to St. Michaels for a rendezvous with several Mast and Mallet-built boats. “It was a fun time,” he says. “We met a lot of the owners. The Thomas Point line of boats is still around and active; other people have really taken care of them as well.”
When asked about some of the projects on Sawdust over the years, Tom maintains that they’ve kept the boat original. A hard top and solar panels were added by Sass after the Great Loop excursion. This spring a bow thruster had to be replaced by Marine Electric Systems after it became unreliable. They’ve also had to “nurture” the AC and refrigeration systems every now and then. “Mike Coleman has been the steward of that through our entire ownership,” adds Tom.
Thankfully, Tom and his family have found no shortage of talented marine professionals in the area who have been great to work with over the years.
“One of the great things about having Rich Kahn as a partner is that he knows everyone from all his years in Annapolis boating,” he says. “And we’ve just been blessed to have all the right guys. We’ve used Bay Shore Marine for engine work and Brett Pavola at Ship Shape for detailing. The folks at Marine Electric Systems put in the bow thruster and have helped with electronics; they’ve been great to work with as well. Pat Teeling (up until his retirement) refers to himself as our GP (general practitioner). A lot of little things need TLC over the years, and he’s always stepped in to make sure we’re being good stewards.
“Annapolis is a great place to own a boat because we have so many really smart and dedicated professionals who love what they do, and they love Sawdust as much as we do.”
As often happens when two Chesapeake boaters get to talking, our discussion eventually shifted to how much we both love the Bay and how special it has been to explore the Bay from the
helm of Sawdust.
“I’ve been the length of the Bay on different trips,” says Tom. “We love the Chester River, St. Michaels, Oxford, Cambridge, the Inner Harbor… It’s been interesting to watch the rebuilding of Poplar Island. I watched a recent special about it on MPT. Watching that island sink and then rise again has been fascinating. Passages with daughter Caroline and nephew Alex, going to baseball games in Baltimore by boat, or playing “Nautical Golf” are always part of the endless opportunities.
“I think the Chesapeake Bay is the most remarkable body of water on the planet. I’ve been blessed with great boating mentors. Thanks to Captain Don and Brigitte Campbell I’ve traveled 20,000 offshore miles from Maine to Trinidad and Jamaica to Brazil as their crew member on Blue Eagle and Quixote. (I’ve been on) lots of other bodies of water like the Ohio River, and there’s really nothing like the Chesapeake Bay.”
We couldn’t agree more, and we couldn’t think of a better boat to feature in our Classic Boat column this month as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of PropTalk.
“I’m just thrilled,” says Tom. “The boat is a Bay treasure. And everyone who gets on Sawdust knows about the premier issue of PropTalk.”
Keep an eye out for Sawdust this summer out on the Bay, and if you see her, be sure to shout a friendly hello to Tom, Bonny, Alex, and Caroline. She’s got a lot of history, and we’re so proud of the part she played in our story.
By Kaylie Jasinski