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AJ 28 BOATS
AJ Enterprises
PO Box 276
Winter Harbor, ME 04693
Phone-207-460-6295
E-mail us at <ajent@midmaine.com>
Alan Johnson -- Proprietor
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A J Enterprises and how we came to be.
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The above photos show the AJ Enterprises boat shop as well as parts of the yard..
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| Hello, my name is Alan Johnson and I am the owner of AJ Enterprises. I would like to thank you for your interest in the AJ-28 and give you the short story of how we got where we are today with the AJ-28. I was born and raised in Winter Harbor, Maine and have spent my entire life in and around boats. My summer job during high school and college was lobster fishing off the coast of Winter Harbor. After graduating from the University of Maine with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology, I spent six years in the Navy on nuclear submarines. During this time I was extensively schooled in hydraulics, diesel mechanics, piping systems and other related subjects. After leaving the navy I went back to the smaller boats and Winter Harbor as a commercial fisherman on a much larger scale than in my school years. I hold a Masters License for 50 ton vessels in near coastal waters. After ten years of fishing, in 1985, I decided it was time to move on to something that I really enjoyed: boat building. I built a one-room shop and started finishing hulls from different manufactures. I built 65 boats between 1985 & 1995 but I specialized in the 26 Duffy and built a number of molds to use in completing these boats. During that time I finished 34 of these boats and marketed them as the AJ-26. In 1995 I decided to produce my own hulls and wanted something larger than the 26 so I designed my own model, a deep and beamy 28 footer that I now call the AJ-28. I received a couple of orders for Lobster boats while I was constructing the molds for the 28 and they were from a father and son who were interested in racing the boats in the lobster boat races here on the coast of Maine. They took delivery and were both pleased with the speeds they achieved in their working Lobster boats. After that I built a very light 28 with a large gas engine to use for just racing. It still holds the speed record of 59.8 mph for a lobster boat. |
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The "Terminator" @ 55 mph, later sold and renamed the "Lunasea".
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Here at AJ Enterprises we build only one size of boat and that is the AJ-28. I feel that by concentrating my efforts on the one size it has been possible to constantly improve the finish on the boats. We still can build an inexpensive commercial finish boat, but we have the ability to do a boat that has a smooth molded finish inside and out. This has been achieved by constructing many new component molds since the first boat was launched in 1996. I can now build you a boat that is made with all molded structural components that will give a smooth molded finish inside and out. This finish is exceptionally easy to clean and is very weather resistant. I have a long list of small component molds (from bow pulpits to swim platforms and just about everything in between), and by using parts from these molds we can customize a boat to fit your specific needs. With the experience I have gained building these molds I can easily fabricate molds for any good ideas you may have for improving these boats.
Because of my years of experience I feel strongly that my 28 foot boats can be a great answer to many of today’s boating issues. The two largest issues that I see are initial cost and fuel consumption, and I feel I have those covered. I love power boats, I have raced them in the past and I know what it takes to make them push easy. You don’t win races with boats that push hard. My boats are not large gas guzzlers, they are 28 feet long and 10’ 4” wide and routinely weigh 7500#, all of which are conservative numbers for a modern boat. Add to this the new generation of fuel efficient Diesel and Gasoline engines and it adds up to a package that you can afford to run and not just leave tied up at the dock (speed and fuel consumption figures). Another issue I have addressed is in the size. These 28’s are a perfect size for a couple to run. We build spacious v-berths in almost all the boats we construct, (I have spent many nights in them). An enclosed head and a small galley are the other options that make one of these boats a wonderful little cruiser.
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“Marianne” Our best effort to date
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| This boat above is powered by a 240hp Yanmar Diesel and was built with full accommodations (including air conditioning and a 5kw diesel generator). It is owned by a couple from Williamsburg, VA that winter in the Bahamas and doing a lot of sport fishing. This boat was finished in the summer of 2006 and is the nicest one we have done to date. Let us build you one to replace it on this page. |
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