Young boat builder realizes dream of creating first vessel

By Ed Pierce

If dreams are the touchstone of our character, then Brysen Sheridan, 10, has a very bright future ahead of him and because of his persistence and determination, his dream of building a boat and taking it out on the water has come true.

Brysen Sheridan of Raymond, 10, right. takes his younger
brother Benny, 5, fishing on his boat 'the unsinkable' in a
small cove near Jordan Bay. He conceived the idea and built
his own boat after working shoveling snow and mowing
lawns to earn enough to buy materials to make the boat.
SUBMITTED PHOTO 

Brysen just completed fourth grade at Raymond Elementary School and will be in fifth grade at Jordan-Small Middle School this fall. He has spent much of the past 10 months designing his own boat and working to pay for materials to build it.

The son of Rob and Chanelle Sheridan of Raymond, Brysen came up with the idea for a small boat last fall.

“I just had the idea and wanted to make it happen,” he said. “I thought of the idea before bed one night and I drew it out and started making it the next day.”

The first obstacle he had to overcome in his plan was figuring out how to pay for the building materials he needed to construct the boat and then saving up to purchase them.

Throughout the winter, Brysen shoveled snow from driveways and sidewalks for his neighbors and helped them with yard work. As the weather slowly warmed up this spring, he earned some additional money from mowing lawns and stacking firewood.

After school officially ended for the summer in June, Brysen discovered that he finally had saved enough money to purchase the materials he needed for the boat.

“We went to the store I bought them with my money,” he said.

Working steadily in his family’s garage and outside in his yard from his initial design, the boat project began to take shape.

“I needed some help with the circular saw, and then I had some leaks when I first put it in the water, but I used Flex Seal to fix that,” Brysen said.

The project was wrapped up on July 11 and resulted in a vessel measuring about 6 feet by 2 feet.

He named his new boat “the unsinkable” and tested it out with his family watching to ensure it was safe to be out on the water.

“I am very proud, and it was so worth it,” Brysen said. “I’d like to build a larger boat sometime or my mom wants me to build a console table for her.”

His mother, Chanelle Sheridan, says the entire family is amazed at what Brysen was able to accomplish with his design and a dream.

“We are so excited,” she said. “He was so determined and worked so hard to finish this.”

During the summer, Brysen has taken his younger brother Bennett (Benny), 5, out on the water for a fishing trip on “the unsinkable” on a small cove near Jordan Bay in Raymond.

He says that looking back at everything regarding his boat project, the hardest aspect of building the boat for him was all the work that he had to do and all of the hours that he put in around his neighborhood to earn the money for the parts and materials.

According to Brysen, his favorite subject in school is writing and he says he would eventually like to become a game warden when he grows up.

But having realized his dream of building a practical vessel, he says he now knows what needs to be done to see a project through from start to finish.

As far as something that he’s learned from building his first boat, Brysen says that’s simple to answer.

“You can do whatever you put your mind to,” he said. “I’d tell other kids wanting to build a boat to stick with it even if it’s hard.” <

Great Falls Bridge Project in Windham nears start date

By Ed Pierce

After appearing on Maine Department of Transportation’s annual Three-Year Plan list for the past few years, work on the Great Falls Bridge connecting Windham and Gorham will be starting in a few weeks.

Crews will start work on the Great Falls Bridge connecting
Windham and Gorham on Aug. 18. The project involves
350 feet of approach work, replacing guardrail transitions,
flare terminals and expansion joint modification. A light pole
will also be removed. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE    

The project was first unveiled on MDOT’s list of road and bridge projects in its annual Three-Year Plan in January 2023.

MDOT Commissioner Bruce A. Van Note says that the preliminary scope of work for this bridge project consists of replacing the wearing surfaces on both Great Falls Bridges. The east and west bridges span the Presumpscot River between North Gorham and Dundee Ponds.

Van Note says that replacing the wearing surfaces will preserve the longevity of the bridges’ existing decks and superstructure.

Bridge wearing surface replacement involves 350 feet of approach work, guardrail transitions and flare terminals, and expansion joint modification. Workers will also install concrete coring connect to bridge beams and remove a light pole that conflicts with a new guardrail.

The reason MDOT cites for the project is to improve the condition of the existing structure while preserving the existing deck and superstructure longevity of the bridges. The project intends to minimize impacts to the traveling public and minimize impacts to adjacent properties and utilities during the project and implement a cost-effective solution to fixing the bridge’s wearing problem.

An MDOT study reveals that the average daily traffic crossing the Great Falls Bridges between Windham and Gorham is 1,910 vehicles per day with about 8 percent of that traffic consisting of heavy trucks.

Maintenance of traffic during construction will be achieved either by using a closure and detour or by using staged construction. The closure and detour alternatives would require all traffic to detour around the site on by using an alternate route.

Van Note said that the staged construction alternative would have one-half of the bridge under construction at a time, while a single lane of alternating one-way traffic would use the other half of the bridge. But it is possible that North Gorham Road and Windham Center Road at the project site may be closed to all traffic for a maximum of 45 consecutive days.

This project shall be performed in accordance with erosion control measures conforming to the latest version of State of Maine Department of Transportation Standard Specifications for Highways and Bridges and the Department of Transportation’s Best Management Practices for Erosion and Sediment Control.

The Great Falls Bridges are located on Windham Center Road over the Presumpscot River and connect Windham to North Gorham.

Both bridges were constructed in 1970 and following recent MDOT inspections, they both show signs of cracking and rutting on deck and surfaces.

The bridge site is located near the Great Falls Dam, which was one of the first sources of hydroelectric power in the Lakes region of Maine. Use of hydroelectric power was implemented by early settler Zebulon Trickey, who constructed bridges and mills on both sides of the Presumpscot River in Great Falls.

When a fire swept through the Great Falls area in 1872, it destroyed the mills and a bridge built by Trickey, and settlement of the Great Falls site has declined since then.

The estimated funding for the Great Falls Bridges Wearing Replacement Project is $500,000.

Scott Construction Corporation of Portland will perform the bridge wearing replacement work and distribute bridge closure notifications when needed. Both the Gorham and Windham Public Works Departments will also post notifications on social media accounts regarding project updates and bridge closures.

Work on the Great Falls Bridges project will start on Monday, Aug. 18 with traffic control devices put in place by Aug. 19. Soon thereafter the bridge may be closed temporarily to allow workers to remove all the bridge guardrails for both the east and west Great Falls bridges.

The project is expected to be completed by Oct. 31 Van Note said. <