Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding has expanded its Thomaston, Maine, manufacturing campus with a new 15,000-sq.-ft. Advanced Composites Center aimed at marine, commercial, and defense work.
The clear-span facility is the third major investment at Lyman-Morse’s Advanced Manufacturing Center on Elltee Circle and adds dedicated space for large-scale composite fabrication and assembly.
The building is equipped with two 94'-wide, five-ton overhead cranes, integrated vacuum pumps, compressors, and other equipment for advanced composite manufacturing. Lyman-Morse said the space will support projects underway for its growing defense business.
The company also used the Oct. 16 opening to announce that Lyman-Morse Technologies has been renamed Lyman-Morse Defense, reflecting an increasing amount of work supporting Department of Defense contractors.
The composites center joins two earlier investments at the Thomaston manufacturing campus.
The first involved upgrades and reconfiguration of the Lyman-Morse Workboats facility, which houses the company’s metal fabrication operations and supports commercial and specialty vessel construction.
A second phase established a dedicated CNC and additive manufacturing operation by renovating existing space on the campus. That facility includes multiple CNC machines and an EOS M 290 laser-sintering metal additive manufacturing system.
With the new composites building, Lyman-Morse now has advanced composites, metal fabrication, precision machining, and additive manufacturing capabilities located at the same campus.
The company said the expanded operation is intended to allow it to take on larger and more complex manufacturing projects across marine, workboat, industrial, and defense markets.
All three phases of the Advanced Manufacturing Center development received support through Maine Technology Institute funding programs.
Lyman-Morse has been expanding its commercial and government vessel work in recent years. Its Workboats division builds aluminum vessels and performs specialized metal fabrication, while the broader company also operates custom yacht construction, refit, and service businesses.
The company recently completed the 49' solar-electric passenger vessel Firefly for nonprofit Upstream Alliance and is under contract to build a 59' aluminum research vessel for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Lyman-Morse was founded in 1978 and operates facilities in Thomaston and Camden, Maine.
