A true woodsman

Deepa Bharath

For Dennis Ambrose, boating tradition is serious business.

For 25 years, the 47-year-old shipwright, or marine carpenter, has

owned his wood shop on the water on Lido Peninsula, where he has

restored old boats, built teak decks for luxury yachts and given form

to just about “any wood on a boat.”

“For many people, boats are legacies handed down from one

generation to another,” he said. “People like to keep it in top

condition. It’s like a status symbol.”

Ambrose’s father was a marine carpenter, too.

“It’s a highly specialized job,” said Ambrose, a Newport Beach

native. “It’s also a very satisfying and challenging profession.”

Among the yachts and sportfishers he has restored over the years

are Johnny Carson’s yacht and John Wayne’s old boat, the “Norwester.”

Woodwork on a boat is different from what one would find in house

or a building, Ambrose said.

“There’s no carving or right angles,” he said. “But everything in

a boat is ornamental -- handrails, trims. There’s a lot of curves and

bends, too. Just no straight lines.”

And then there are the teak decks. Teak, Ambrose said, is the

universally preferred wood for yachts “because of the way it looks

and feels.”

“It’s also nonskid and doesn’t require maintenance,” he said.

“It’s virtually impervious to rot.”

The teak comes to Ambrose all the way from the jungles of Myanmar,

through a supplier. In a year, he uses at least 5,000 square feet of

teak on about 30 yachts.

“The time taken for each job varies,” he said. “Some projects are

long-term, like the sportfisher we restored that took about a year

and a half.”

Ambrose says the business is not “too lucrative,” but allows for a

“good lifestyle.”

“Also, when you learn a trade,” he said, “you stick with it.”