A golden anniversary for Coecles Harbor Marina

Down the hill at the end of Hudson Avenue is a family-owned and -run business that has been on the Coecles Harbor waterfront for 50 years, creating a unique, world-class product and providing world-class services.

You wouldn’t know it for the size of the tiny office at the rear of the main building of Coecles Harbor Marina (CHM). That’s where the owners, brothers John and Peter Needham, have their desks, navigating the tricky task of running one of the world’s best boat-building operations, producing handcrafted and stunningly beautiful wooden yachts, which become instant classics as soon as they touch water.

You don’t have to be a boat aficionado to have your breath taken away by the aesthetics of these vessels, some bobbing along the waterfront, others being maintained in shops at the CHM site, where customers and others bring vessels to Shelter Island for repainting, engine work and other upkeep under the tender touches of the skilled staff.

The business, started by John and Peter’s father, Peter Sr., is staying in the family, with Peter and Kathi Needham’s sons, Schuyler and Connor — both marine engineers — on the management team as general managers. Kathi, called “the brains of the outfit” by John, manages every part of the business, including keeping the books. It’s typical of the free-form but very hands-on nature of the business that it takes a while for Schuyler and Connor and Kathi to define their roles or titles when asked. That’s because they do everything.

Asked about running a small business to successfully withstand economic storms, John immediately says, with a smile, that their particular business, unlike most, has real meteorological issues to put up with: “hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms —”

“Floods,” Peter interjects, a common occurrence as the brothers often finish each other’s sentences.

CHM makes about one boat a year, Schuyler said, for about $900,000 a boat. “But the price could be north of that, depending on the options the customer wants,” he said.

One new option, John put in, is a “Seakeeper,” a device that reduces the roll of a boat, so in heavy waves, the boat stays rock steady. That option alone is about $40,000.

Asked about marketing the business, the four men crowded into the tiny office and looked at one another before Schuyler said, “Practically none.” John allowed that the company participates in boat shows, notably Newport and Annapolis, but mostly they’re known in the boat world through word-of-mouth. “If you pull into any marina in one of our boats,”John said, “you’ll get nothing but thumbs up from boaters when they see you.”

There was one notable owner who helped with marketing and put them on the map, Peter said. The business took off when a fellow Long Islander showed up to talk about having a boat built. As Peter told the story to author Nancy Solomon for her book, “Boat Building and Boat Yards of Long Island,” he wasn’t sure what to think when the guy walked in. “He was all scruffy. I said, ‘Hey,’” to him. I didn’t even know who he was.”

The Needhams soon got to know Billy Joel very well, building boats for him, with the Piano Man involved in every detail of the projects. “Billy really helped us,” Peter said. “We got into every marine publication in the world, on CNN, everywhere.”

But staying on top of new technology and new ideas in general, and sweating the details, are reasons for success, something instilled from the beginning, when CHM was founded 50 years ago.

PULLING UP STAKES

It started half a century ago this spring for the Needhams and Shelter Island. After John’s and Peter’s father, Peter Sr., an aerospace engineer, was laid off at Republic Aviation, he was ordered to lay off his own staff. Finding himself jobless, Peter Sr. declared he didn’t want his kids to experience the same thing, so he bought the marina.

The Island wasn’t a complete unknown. With their parents, and sister Cheryl, an astrophysicist who’s raised a family in Maryland, the brothers had been to Shelter Island aboard the family’s 26-foot sloop out of Glen Cove. “So we knew this place,” John said. And in 1973, “By selling everything they had, the house, our boats, they were able to come up with a down payment. It was a risk I wouldn’t have taken,” John said.

He laughed when asked how his mother, Florence, felt about it. “Coming from the North Shore of Long Island to Shelter Island was a lot of adjustment,” he said — but not for the boys, who were in college then. “We started at the bottom. It didn’t matter how dirty the job — digging trenches, painting bottoms, it was on-the-job training for everyone,” John remembered. “Everything’s exciting when you’re 21.”

Peter was going to Southampton College. He went on to get his degree in marine science while John decided to quit the University of New Hampshire to work full time in the shop. “I had my job fixing boats” and when his father tried to draw him into the business side, John thought: “Don’t bother me with all these complications. Then my father died.”

Their accountant Richard Ferraris helped them handle the blow, divvying up responsibilities “between Peter and myself and our spouses,” including John’s first wife, now Stephanie Saryani, with whom he has his “terrific” daughters Emily and Catherine.

“We worked our way through it. I was astounded at the bills” and all the rest of the paperwork and red tape, John said. “It was endless. I just couldn’t believe it. And it still is.”

The Island was a good fit. “I came here not knowing anybody,” John said. “Now I’m related to half the Island by marriage. If you married a Tuthill and you’ve got a daughter who married a Brigham, you’re up to your elbows with Clarks and Mundys and Kilbs.”

A FUTURE FILLED WITH QUALITY

A tour of the facility, which stretches along the waterfront, showcases expert crafts men and women. In one shop, boats are being painted, and in the carpentry shop, tools are immaculately kept. Sue Hawthorne, who started at CHM in 1976, works in a room above the shop varnishing wood that goes into every part of a boat, from large pieces of furniture to the tiniest objects. “I’m working with cherry and teak today,” Ms. Hawthorne said, showing the wood shining in her hands. “She’s a magician,” John said.

Asked the greatest challenge to being in a family-run business, Peter said it was finding a way to decompress. “Trying to find a life outside your work,” he added. “Working with your spouse, your children, your brother, you’re involved with it all the time.”

Overall challenges are “keeping good staff here,” he said. “In 50 years we’ve had more than 600 employees.”

The Island helps and hurts, as well, with prospective boat buyers finding that the Island is an enchanting place to visit. “But the downside is everything has to come in by ferry, so there’s cost and time involved,” Peter said. CHM hires locally, “And sometimes getting quality craftspeople to commute to the Island is difficult,” Peter added.

The world-wide supply chain bottlenecks, affecting every manufacturer, is also a real challenge for CHM. Is it getting better? Peter was asked. “Well, yes. People are getting better at excuses.”

Changes in the business include hedge funds buying up marinas all over the East End, Peter said. And the Island itself is changing, John added. “Five years ago, almost 100% of Island businesses were locally owned,” he said. “Now, they’re becoming investor owned.”

What’s the future? Peter was asked. Without a pause, he said, “electric …” And then his brother finished his sentence by saying that keeping the standards of aesthetics, durable quality and customer service was also the future for CHM.