Courtesy Berkman family Joe Berkman’s lovely G20 is now a sought-after collector’s boat and a testament to the down-to-earth man who built it.
Boatbuilding lost another fine craftsman when Joe Berkman, 64, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, died on Feb. 5, 2026. While Joe’s name will be added to the annals of boat- and shipbuilders in the Boston area stretching back to the 17th century, his life is a story that needs to be recalled by the boatbuilders across this country who make up his second family.
Joe grew up landlocked in Brookline, Massachusetts, in a household with plenty of love, but short on cash. His mother raised Joe and his five siblings on her own. Their absent father had left behind an old catamaran he had built in the backyard, and that was a spark for Joe, fueled when the kids spent summers with their grandfather out on Nantasket Beach. There, Joe was consumed with cobbling together makeshift boats and testing them out. They didn’t all float.
Back at home, school held little motivation or inspiration for Joe. He left without graduating and faced grim prospects living on his own in the projects. That’s when Joe sought out his father, who had moved to Rockport on Cape Ann and ran a bicycle store in Magnolia. Joe relocated and gave school another shot but found it still didn’t offer him anything, although there were ample distractions for a young man adrift. Fortunately, Joe heard about a shop up on Blackburn Circle that built high-end race boats, and he became convinced that this was his calling. He told owner Mark Lindsay that he wanted to be a part of the team so much that he would work for free.
That was in 1982. Joe became a key employee of Mark Lindsay Boatbuilders Ltd. in Gloucester for the next 14 years. During this time, he and the crew were tutored and tempered in the crucible of resin, sandpaper, dust, and deadlines that is the real world of boatbuilding. Lindsay started his business building cold-molded 16′ (4.9m) International 505 sailboats. His reputation for light, stiff race-winning sailboats brought in larger commissions. Lindsay teamed up with yacht designer Jim Taylor to build a dozen race boats in the 40′ (12.2m) range.
During those years, Joe was exposed to the full range of the process from lofting to final painting. Lindsay’s recipe for fast meant fair hulls and fins. Anyone who has worked in this business will tell you that a good portion of a fair hull ends up on the floor. There were plenty of times when the shop’s famous attention to detail meant getting and staying filthy. Teammate and close friend Burn Kenyon recalls how Joe always lifted everyone’s spirits when the going got ugly. There’s no glory in pushing a longboard, and it’s easy for some people to cut corners, but not Joe. One Berkman maxim was, “You just can’t teach ‘give a shit.’”
Joe’s attitude and focus drew the attention of syndicates in grand prix racing. Several America’s Cup campaigns had Lindsay’s shop build rudders and fair keels. These were the days before lasers, CAD/CAM, or 3D printing—it was all “hands and eyes.” Joe became a foil perfectionist.
When Lindsay moved his shop to East Boston and teamed with Scott Smith and Geoff Berger to form Boston Boatworks, Joe made the move and helped build the first Taylor-designed boats to leave the new facility. However, after a few years, Joe realized it was time to begin a new chapter in his life. He wanted to start his own company.
Courtesy Berkman Family Joe was known for his humor and perfectionist work ethic.
In 1998, Joe formed the Gloucester Boatbuilding Co. in East Gloucester. His dream was to build the very best production 20′ (6.1m) center-console. Despite the size, this was no prosaic goal. Joe demanded that his G20 was to have yacht-quality finish with commercial boat reliability. He knew he wanted a bold Carolina flair rolling into a deep tumblehome at the transom. Marblehead designer Doug Zurn shared his vision and produced the finished lines. The final product was a jewel of a boat with meticulous detailing, not only in the hardware and systems but also in the hand-laid laminates. With the help of Joe’s brother, Eddie, and the brothers Kenyon (Pete and Steve), the first G20 made it down the ways with more following close behind it.
The project lacked no attention to detail, quality, or heart, but after building somewhere around 30 boats, and with no sugar daddy backing it, finances ran out. Consulting accountants would likely have advised that the vision of the Gloucester Boatbuilding Co. was not economically viable, but the fact remains that Joe had realized his dream. Anyone who knew Joe agrees that the man didn’t give a damn about money. His guiding principles were integrity, dedication, and hard work. The G20s he built are collectors’ items now and a testament to the man in Tyvek who brought them to life.
Courtesy Berkman Family G20 at speed.
Joe Berkman grew up with little or no advantages in life, yet devoted himself to the demanding single-minded pursuit of creating floating objects of great beauty and integrity. In doing so, he epitomized what it is to be a professional boatbuilder. Everyone he touched along the way remembers his kindness, humor, and infectious enthusiasm. He leaves behind not only a large and loving family, but also a cadre of fellow boatyard misfits and lifers who were lucky enough to work alongside him.
