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If you spend any time on the water in the Northeast, in particular northern New England, you’ll cross paths with an Eastern boat. But there is Eastern, the boat brand, and then there is Eastern Boat Works, which builds multiple brands, including Eastern, Rosborough and Seaway.
Eastern was founded in 1981 in East Rochester, New Hampshire, when Carmen Carbone started building one model, an 18-footer drawn by the highly regarded Downeast designer Royal Lowell. The New Hampshire facility had two small bays for assembly and a glass shop that could hold two hulls at a time. Ten years later, two more models had joined the line, a 22-footer and a Royal Lowell 27-footer.
But in 1993, things changed. That’s when Bob Bourdeau, one of Eastern’s employees, purchased the company from Carbone, and, after the facilities burned down in a devastating fire, moved the entire operation to Milton, New Hampshire. There, Bourdeau would spend the next quarter century growing the company, seeing it through good times and bad times, while continually expanding its offerings.
In 1994, he acquired the molds for the highly regarded JC 31,