Western Mariner – August 2019

42 WESTERNMARINER.COM AUGUST 2019 CANADA’S COMMERCIAL MARINE MAGAZINE

A

rare early 1930s Mullins Sea

Eagle runabout is under-

going a transforma-

tion in a shop near

Gibsons under

the guidance of owner John

Fluevog and mechanic/met-

alsmith/lead hand Patrick Jones.

The Sea Eagle was produced for just a few years by the

boat division of the Mullins Manufacturing Corp. in Salem,

Ohio. The 15' 4" by 5' 1" hull is framed in wood with a skin

of stamped galvanized steel (similar to formed automotive

body panels) applied over. Original factory power was a 40-

hp Lycoming four-cylinder engine, capable of propelling

the 1,385-pound boat to 30 mph.

When John acquired this boat through a friend who dis-

covered it in a hot rod shop in western Washington State,

it had been repowered with an early Willys Jeep engine,

and the steel in the hull was showing the effects of age and

abuse. Patrick stripped the

steel off the hull, weld-re-

paired damaged areas and

reshaped and rejoined the

panels into a single unit. He dis-

assembled and copied the old

wood framing using Douglas

fir, oak and some marine ply.

The original steel connectors

between the wood framing and

the steel (there are remarkably few

of them) were renewed and re-galvanized. Patrick then re-

assembled the hull with some help from woodsmith Chris

Jordan-Knox, who crafted and installed new deck beams,

carlins and shear clamps. The topside steel panels which

form the exterior deck are currently undergoing resto-

ration (see photos page 44).

seaangel’s new power plant will be a radical departure

from the original. Patrick has prepped and marinized an

Wood wrapped in Steel

A Mullins Sea Eagle runabout

takes on a new life as Sea angel

by David Rahn

Above: A “side” view of the topsides and deck framing of the Sea angel mounted on a car rotisserie.

PHOTO BY DAVID RAHN