Snyder’s Shipyard the last of an era on the Lahave River

Just as they have been for about 150 years, things are busy these days at Snyder's Shipyard in Dayspring.

The shipyard was originally started around 1871 by Stephen Leary and sons and was one of many along the banks of the Lahave River at the time.

Today, only Snyder's Shipyard remains.

The shipyard was purchased by Reginald (Teddy) Snyder in 1944, who designed and built vessels as well as parts of the shipyard facilities.

In 1969, he built the first permanent boatbuilding shed. Before that, vessels were constructed outside. In 1992, a second building was constructed and then a third, bringing a total of 10,000 square feet of working space to the shipyard.

Snyder retired from the business in 1987, passing ownership to his son Philip. When Philip semi-retired in 2006, longtime employee Wade Croft became coowner.

“He needed someone to look after the yard, so I took on the challenge,” said Croft in an interview.

Croft began his career at the shipyard on March 24, 1980 as a labourer working in the boiler room making fire to fuel the steam to bend wooden planks, recalled Croft.

“I worked my way up the chain,” he said, of joining the management team in 1999.

Croft's first management project was Theodore Too.

Launched on April 19, 2000, the 65-foot wooden hulled vessel is a working replica of Theodore Tugboat from the children's television series of the same name.

Although that was the last wooden hull the shipyard made, they still do some woodwork, said Croft, such as building the wooden rudder for the Bluenose II refit in 2016 to replace the steel one that wasn't the proper rudder. Snyder's Shipyard also did major repair work to Bluenose II in 1995.

Many of the shipwrights at Snyder's are second and third generation in their trade and have spent an entire career at the shipyard.

From finishing bare fiberglass hulls supplied by one of the many boatbuilders along the South Shore to customer's specifications, to doing repairs and retrofits, business has been booming in the boatbuilding industry for many years now, said Croft.

“The demand is phenomenal,” he said. “Over the years the demand usually goes up and down and up and down but has never maintained this much up this long. For five years now, it's been crazy.”

But COVID-19 has had an impact on operations at the shipyard, said Croft.

“This COVID put us in a spiral downward,” adding early on when a couple of guys didn't show up because of the virus “at that point I decided to do what I could with the core guys around and go with that.”

Snyder Shipyard currently has nine employees.

“I could have more employees but it's hard to find skilled tradesman,” said Croft.

“Other shops are finding the same thing.”

Prior to COVID-19, Snyder's Shipyard was a bit of an attraction for both tourists to the area as well as academics studying architecture who are interested in seeing the nobeam truss system that Teddy Snyder designed and built in one of the boatsheds.

Croft said he often gave out hats to visitors from other areas of Canada and the U.S. to take home with them after giving them a tour of the boatyard, one time getting a handmade coaster set as a gift for the gesture.

Presently, Snyder's Shipyard has three boats on the go, including a new build, modifications to another and a third vessel ready to go out the door.