The moment his latest “floating home” hit the water Aug. 20 in the Port Townsend Boatyard, it marked the culmination of nearly nine months of work for Terry Nowell.

But even before he began his design, fabrication and welding business in Port Townsend in 1996, Nowell had built a literal lifetime's worth of experience in the field.

Nowell began working as a fitter for a master welder in upstate New York, working on heavy equipment ranging from bridges to water towers, but alternated these labors with stints in teaching sculpture to college art stunts.

A student himself, Nowell relocated to the West Coast for graduate school and got hired by contractors in the Pacific Northwest, when he spent what would be his first summer in Port Townsend working on a commercial salmon trawler heading to Alaska.

“I just fell in love with boats,” Nowell said. “I'd had an interest in them since childhood, but that really cemented it for me.”

Nowell wound up working at six different companies at the Port of Port Townsend before he started P&T Fabrications in Port Townsend in 1996, and while he began working on metal fabrication jobs like barge hulls, it wasn't long at all before he was bitten by the houseboat construction bug.

“My wife was pregnant and this fisherman I was working for invited me to stay on his houseboat,” Nowell said. “It was a really cool experience, and better yet, I found out there was a demand for houseboats.”

Nowell named the first houseboat he built after his son, Austin Edward, who would wind up helping his dad build the houseboat P&T Fabrications put into the water Aug. 20, about 22 years later.

“Working on this houseboat was the first time I've been involved, start to finish, on one of my dad's projects,” Austin Nowell said. “Steel fabrication, painting, house construction and fiberglass … I got to learn it all. This was a real eye-opening experience for me.”

LAKE UNION RULES

While Terry Nowell has appreciated the outlet of building houseboats, he's felt constrained in recent years by the increasing level of regulations on the houseboats at Lake Union, even though he understands the reasons why.

According to Nowell, Lake Union essentially imposed a moratorium two years ago on any new houseboats that aren't replacing existing houseboats, which requires him to work within even tighter physical parameters than are already a standard part of building any houseboat.

“They stringently measure new houseboats for volume and height restrictions,” Nowell said. “Rather than simply replacing existing houseboats, I'd like to be able to build special houseboats, whose engineering is unique and artistic, yet practical.”

Nowell nonetheless continues to dive into the task of houseboat building with both feet, and routinely invites as much of the surrounding maritime community along for the ride as he can.

The houseboat that dropped into the water Aug. 20 came complete with three sets of stairs, two 60-square-foot decks in back, a 400-square-foot top deck, and an 800-square-foot interior, all for a price of $250,000.

“I do all my own designs and drawing,” Nowell said. “But I turn to the students at Olympic College and Peninsula College, who have their welding certificates, to do the building. They become skilled laborers through these jobs, which leads to them becoming part of the labor pool for the Port and getting hired by others.”

In addition to utilizing his own background as an educator, Nowell also enlists the aid of other professionals at the Port, from carpenters and other woodworkers to fiberglass and glassworkers.

“These are people who know the balance of weights that goes into naval architecture, so that a ship doesn't capsize in the water,” Nowell said. “It's a whole big circus mix of individuals.”

Nowell estimated that he and his crews spent the last two months of the eight-and-a-half-month build period on his latest houseboat grinding away until 10:30 p.m. every night, much to his wife's consternation, and even then, his client was “itchy” to get hold of his vessel.

And yet, for all the bureaucracy Nowell bemoans, he still gets a kick out of the end result.

“You go to Lake Union, and parts of it are like ghettos,” Nowell said. “You've got all these houseboats that are overpainted, floating on styrofoam or logs, poorly engineered and have poor plumbing. But then, I see the eight or nine of my houseboats that are in that lake, and I can recognize them right away. I always add signature touches to them.”

Nowell presents each of his clients with a “wedding album” of photos documenting the process of building the houseboat, not just so they can see the internal structures of its architecture, plumbing and electrical systems, but also in recognition of the fact that it's an emotional experience.

“Every time one of my houseboats goes into the water, I can't believe it,” Nowell said. “It's so breathtaking. You grow tight with the clients, because it's like you're giving birth to this thing together. The vessels I build are designed to outlast me. They should go through many owners.”

Austin Nowell added: “I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of this.”