Van Peer Boat Works

Overview

Some of Fort Bragg's working history was never right downtown or right on the waterfront.

Some of it happened out Highway 20, under big practical covers, where steel, welding, fishing knowledge, and patience slowly became boats.

Van Peer Boat Works at 32600 Highway 20 became one of Fort Bragg's best-known local boatbuilding names. Chris Van Peer started building boats in the 1970s, and by 2016 National Fisherman described him as having built boats for 43 years, launching 31 boats before finishing what was expected to be his 32nd and final boat.

Most of those boats were built for commercial fishing, which says a lot about the kind of work this yard did. These were not showpieces. They were serious working vessels meant for real ocean use.

Location

32600 Highway 20 sits east of Fort Bragg, away from the downtown storefronts and away from the harbor itself.

That location makes the story more interesting. From the road, the site could look like another practical industrial property. But inside the covers and work areas, steel boats were being built for fishermen who worked out of Fort Bragg, Washington, Alaska, and the larger West Coast fishing fleet.

The site may have been inland, but its work was directly tied to Noyo Harbor and the ocean economy. A boat built on Highway 20 could become part of the commercial fishing life of the Pacific Coast.

History

Van Peer Boat Works was a Fort Bragg boatyard built around skill, patience, and specialized knowledge.

Chris Van Peer spent more than four decades building steel commercial fishing boats. National Fisherman reported on Van Peer-built vessels including the Jes An, Fierce Leader, Brooke Michelle, Anita, and Noyo Dawn.

The Noyo Dawn especially shows how important this Highway 20 yard was to the local fishing fleet. It was a 66-foot by 24-foot-6-inch combination dragger and crabber, designed by Jensen Maritime Consultants and built for the Estes fishing family, with Tom Estes Jr. expected to skipper it out of Fort Bragg.

That one boat ties the whole story together: a design firm, a Fort Bragg boatbuilder, a local fishing family, and a working vessel meant for the real conditions of the commercial fishery.

The memories add another layer. One person remembered living nearby in the 1970s and watching a new boat slowly rise under the covering. That is the kind of memory that fits Van Peer Boat Works perfectly. From outside, it might have looked like a big working shed. Inside, something much larger was taking shape piece by piece — frames, plating, wheelhouses, decks, fish holds, and all the specialized details that turn raw material into a vessel that can make a living offshore.

The Building Today

The address at 32600 Highway 20 remains documented as Van Peer Boatworks in business listings and boatbuilding references.

Its importance is not just in the physical structure, but in the work that happened there. Van Peer Boat Works represents the kind of hands-on industrial trade that does not always get remembered as visibly as hotels, saloons, restaurants, or downtown storefronts.

This was a place where Fort Bragg's working identity was built in steel. It connected welders, builders, fishermen, designers, suppliers, harbor families, and the larger Pacific fishing industry.

Why It Matters

Van Peer Boat Works matters because it shows Fort Bragg as more than a town where boats landed fish.

It was also a place where working boats were actually built.

That distinction matters. Van Peer Boat Works kept Fort Bragg tied to the commercial fishing industry not only through Noyo Harbor, but through the skilled trades that supported the fleet itself. It belongs in the town's history alongside the mills, machine shops, harbor businesses, and practical industrial yards that helped keep local work moving.

It is easy to remember the storefronts, hotels, restaurants, and old downtown buildings. But places like Van Peer Boat Works carried another part of Fort Bragg's identity — the part built with steel, noise, long days, and the sight of a new boat slowly taking shape under cover on Highway 20.

Sources: Original post text/photo provided by Gee Bee; comment thread provided by Gee Bee, including comments from Candi Baird, Dave Birdsall, and Joni Goble; National Fisherman, "Around the Yards," 2013, 2015, and 2016; Shipbuilding History, Van Peer Boat Works; Nextdoor business listing for Van Peer Boatworks.