Jim Robinson News

Launched in 1972, Marine Builders Inc. has remained a model of consistency, churning out a healthy mix of towboats and - more recently - passenger vessels, each year of its existence. Beginning with Quarto 1, launched back in 1971, towboat construction has always been the company's bread and butter, but the company has built drydocks, dredges, cruise vessels, barges; and has even formed a new sister company which builds pedestrian bridges over waterways. Company President and Owner David W. Evanczyk began his boat-building career in the 1960's with Yates Marine Construction, in Wheeling, W.V. Evanczyk moved to the Louisville area at the request of Jack Yates, with the intent to form a new shipyard company in the area.

When contractors Brasfield & Gorrie accepted a job to rehabilitate a dam for a local power company, their first foray into marine work was far from routine. With no navigable passage into the deep-water side of the 150-ft. tall dam, most workboats couldn't even reach the job site. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company decided a new equipment purchase was their best option. They bought a 25.3 x 14 x 4.5 ft. tugboat and transported it in two pieces that were offloaded by crane and assembled on site. What this job required was a truckable tug. And as the company soon learned there were many more jobs that could take advantage of such a tug.