CANADA’S COMMERCIAL MARINE MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 WESTERNMARINER.COM 27Standing in front of Sidney’s Spencers Marine
Supply & Consignment store is owner Jeff
Spencer. A resident of Sidney for 15 years now,
Spencer opened Spencers Marine Supply &
Consignment in 2015 following the shutdown of
Waypoint Marine, which had previously operated
out of the same location (he’d worked there for
11 years prior to the shutdown). The old Boaters
Exchange in Sidney also closed its doors around
the same time, so when Spencer started the new
venture he decided to combine both new and
used sales. It seems there’s always something
interesting to be found at a good marine consign-
ment store, and Spencers didn’t disappoint, with
the Western Mariner crew picking up some hard
to find out-of-publication strip charts and chart
books for reference use in the office.Standing in front of Eric Jespersen’s “fishboat
yacht” San mateo (1957, Wahl Boatyard, Prince
Rupert) are the Jespersen Boat Builders crew
of (l to r) Mark Niall, Don Hutton, Tony Reniero
and Eric Jespersen. Eric and his father Bent
converted the San mateo from a troller back in
2000, and the finished conversion was profiled
in the December 2002 issue of Mariner Life.
The vessel was hauled in the early summer of
2019 to have the wood around its keel cooler
thru-hulls replaced and isolated, and to have
the garboard planking recaulked. One of the
big ongoing projects at the shop this past year
has been the stem-to-stern rebuild of the 1939
Danish double-ended spidsgatter Skoal (“see
Working in Wood” on page 38).Under construction at Sidney’s
Liquid Metal Marine is a 10m
(33-ft) Gregory Marshall-
designed monohull cruising
vessel, powered by triple 350-
hp Mercury Verado outboards.
It’s the biggest and most
luxurious monohull built by the
company so far, with a custom
interior finished in bamboo.
Onboard the vessel in the photo are independent shipwright Reed Radziszewski and
All Marine Electric electrician Basil Healy, who were helping the Liquid Metal team
with the interior finishing/woodwork and electrical installation respectively. Reed,
who’s been a shipwright in the Sidney area for 20 years, worked closely with Mike
Mendria and Alysha Capeling to build the interior cabinetry from scratch, using sheet
bamboo cut and laminated together to create a beautiful, environmentally-sustainable
finished surface (see photo above, right). Other projects underway at Liquid Metal Marine include a 6.9 m (22.5-ft) commuter/
fishing vessel for a private customer, and a series of smaller runabouts including a Cope-designed 4.3 m (14ft) skiff.New and used marine store in Sidney
Jespersens’ San MateO