From left: Oliver Moore (Moore Brothers, Director), Billy Thalheimer (Regent CEO), Senator Jack Reed, Michael Klinker (Regent CTO), Sam Moore (Moore Brothers, Director)
U.S. Senator Jack Reed visited Moore Brothers Company in July for a tour of our facilities. Oliver Moore spoke to Senator Reed about the current projects, including the large-scale REGENT project.
REGENT is developing a line of seagliders that operate exclusively over water, traversing the sea in one of three modes: hull, hydrofoil, or flight in ground effect. Moore Brothers Company built the REGENT prototype, which underwent successful sea trials last year. MBC is currently building the first full-scale craft for REGENT.
REGENT plans to conduct passenger-carrying sea trials in 2024 and is targeting a 2025 entry date for its new line of seagliders for commercial use.
Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations and Armed Services Committees, has worked at the federal level to make Rhode Island a leader in maritime technology.
“We are constantly looking for ways to strengthen Rhode Island’s blue economy. This is innovative technology that could make coastal transportation more efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective. I’m pleased to see REGENT bringing more jobs to Rhode Island and tapping into the state’s composite manufacturing and research network,” said Senator Reed in a press release on his website.
“It was exciting to share with Senator Reed our current projects, including the large-scale REGENT project,” said Co-owner and co-founder of Moore Brothers Company, Oliver Moore. “The partnership between us and REGENT is one that we hope to sustain for years to come, and hopefully attract other innovative partnerships as well.”
On April 14th, 2023 REGENT unveiled it’s life-size model of a passenger carrying seaglider known as Viceroy in Quonset, Rhode Island. The seaglider was built by Moore Brothers Company over a period of four months.
The event began at 9am with hundreds of people in attendance, including Rhode Island’s Governor, Dan McKee, Senator Jack Reed and representatives of aviation companies like Mokulele Airlines, Southern Airways Company and Mesa Airlines.
Governor Dan Mckee speaking at the REGENT unveiling in Quonset, Rhode Island.
REGENT’s Viceroy will use hydrofoils and flight-in-ground effect (lifting of the horizontal surface of an aircraft wing when it is close to the ground or water) to transport up to 12 passengers up to 160 nautical miles with zero carbon emissions. Sea trials of Viecroy are to begin this year and according to REGENT’s CEO Billy Thalheimer, will begin full-scale operation in 2025.
It was announced at the unveiling that Mokulele Airlines bought 25 seagliders for operations in Hawai’i. Chairman and CEO of Mokulele Airlines and Southern Airways, Stan Little said he was “thrilled” to be taking the first Viceroys into operation.
Chairman and CEO of Mesa Airlines, Jonathan Ornstein said that he originally thought the idea of seagliders transporting passengers was “the kookiest idea that I’ve ever heard,” but now he sees how much opportunity there is to utilize them, especially since they do not need to be approved by the FAA or carry a pilot as the seagliders will fly below 400 feet.
“Innovation is so important to Rhode Island right now,” said Governor McKee. He also said that the momentum for innovation will be built upon “young and innovative ideas.”
The Moore Brothers Company will continue to be an integral part of the production of the Viceroy seagliders and are expanding operations.
A special thanks goes out to Lyman Morse who built the tail and machined a ton of the foam, as well as Symmetrix Composite Tooling who helped make the nose and the outriggers. GT3 Creative did all the vinyling and graphics with a herculean effort. Zach Parent and his team at Ocean State Composites led the charge on the subcontractor work and the team at Itchi Bahn Yacht Painters for their stellar paint work.
Since they were boys, Sam and Oliver Moore have been into making things. “We built a cradle on rollers to hoist mom’s lobster boat up onto the shore,” says Oliver, about one of their many projects as kids. “There was a lot of problem solving like that,” he continues.
The brothers grew up on Ram Island located within Sippican Harbor in Marion, Massachusetts. One of their earliest memories is building styrofoam rafts to cross the bay.
They were also surrounded by friends and family members that were boat builders and entrepreneurs. Their uncle, Stephen Clark, was co-owner of Vanguard Sailboats and made it into one of the most preeminent boat building companies in the world. He was also the owner of the famous Red Herring, one of the first canting keel monohauls. Their grandfather built c-class catamarans and owned a marine company of his own.
The brothers started spending their summers building boats and naturally, they got into racing. “We started racing faster and more custom built boats,” says Oliver. “And we were breaking them more and more and had to fix them,” Sam adds.
Oliver working in the original home for Moore Bros Co., which was their garage.
Oliver went on to study physics at Williams College. Sam would go on to study at the University of Vermont. When Oliver graduated he went to work for a composite company and ended up running a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine. Sam went to work in habitat restoration in South Georgia.
They soon realized that they wanted to work for themselves and Oliver found a house to rent with a large garage, “and that’s when it all started,” says Sam.
Their original idea was to build skis. Oliver felt that the CNC machine had a much larger role to play in the whole manufacturing process. He noticed that “it was a totally underutilized tool,” and wanted to change that.
Within hours of buying a CNC machine, they already had jobs booked, although none of those jobs involved skis. “We got very distracted very quickly by other people paying us to do other stuff,” says Oliver.
By 2017 they had moved out of the garage and into a building that was dedicated solely to composite work.
From there, they went on to get projects for boats like Topaz, Bellamente, and Oracle. Jeff Kent of Composite Solutions Inc. had taken a shine to the brothers and wanted to sell his company to them. Jeff had an impeccable reputation and was known as one of the best in the composite industry. This led to the Moore brother inheriting an incredible client list.
And they did not disappoint those clients. In fact, they exceeded expectations at times.
Since then, they have taken on clients like America’s Cup American Magic and aerospace projects that they can’t even talk about due to NDAs.
One aerospace project that they can talk about, however, is REGENT, a company that hopes to revolutionize transport between coastal cities with a seaglider that will fly a few meters off the water and travel at high speeds.
Moore Brother Co. has already created the prototype and it has successfully completed sea trials. If it continues to go well, the actual seaglider will be built in the next couple of years.
As the client list keeps growing, so does the need for the Moore Brother Co. to follow suit. What Sam and Oliver want to continue to create at Moore Brothers Co. is a culture of innovation and collaboration. “There's always a collaboration between every level of the shop to make sure that the experience and knowledge from every level gets brought into the project,” says Sam. “We're open to innovating different techniques that will allow us to either make a nicer product even nicer, or to come up with budget solutions to get most of the way to what the ideal product would be.” He continues.
“We take great pride in delivering the highest quality products and using the integration of traditional craftsman mindset with modern CNC driven technology,” says Oliver.
Most importantly, both Sam and Oliver consider everyone that works with them as family. There is always time in the day to ask how someone is doing and if something is happening at home, then work can wait.
For anyone interested in working with Sam, Oliver and the rest of the team, send an email to office@moorebro.co.
Originally published in Seahorse Magazine, January 2021
Young and nimble, or experienced and established? Composite fabricators Moore Brothers might just be the best of both worlds.
When Sam and Oliver Moore first set up their own composite shop in 2014, they’d already learned from the best and quickly attracted high-end clients. Three years later they acquired Composite Solutions Inc (CSI) from their mentor Jeff Kent. Since then they’ve established several other strategic partnerships with designers and fabricators, thanks to a fast-growing reputation for repeatable accuracy and a willingness to take on the more challenging jobs. From designing and fabricating America’s Cup components and Grand Prix foils to high-end drones for aerospace start-ups, they will do whatever it takes to make each project a success, on time and at a competitive price.
Heritage of innovation
Oliver and Sam grew up building and fixing boats with their uncle, Steve Clark. ‘We wanted to sail International Canoes,’ Oliver explains, ‘and the only way you got one was to build your own.’ After two C-class catamaran campaigns and earning engineering degrees, they came back home to work their way up in the bustling Bristol boatbuilding scene.
Oliver spent two years as an engineer at Hall Spars before he and Sam set up a CNC machine in their garage and went out on their own. Their plan was to build tailored skis, but before they were even fully up and running a project manager asked if they could build a complicated boat part.
They set aside the skis and turned fresh eyes to solving marine engineering problems, leaning on experts like Jeff Kent for advice. As the owner of CSI, Jeff was flat out building custom parts for high-end boats like Puma, Comanche and countless Goetz projects, and he was happy to share his knowledge with such a young and hungry pair.
From mentor to partner
Three years later, Jeff told the brothers he wanted to work for them instead of running his own shop and CSI became part of Moore Brothers, a partnership that merged his high-end expertise with their youthful energy. Shortly afterward, Bella Mente Racing became their first major joint client. The combined company now occupies two floors of a 5,000 ft² shop, has 10 employees and takes on a wide range of projects.
At the America’s Cup level they’ve built booms, fairing pieces and spreaders for American Magic’s test mule and completed several undisclosed parts for the team’s final AC75. They also have ongoing contracts as the supplier for drone parts and with Melges Boatworks to produce all their keels.
Main picture: foils are ʻoftenʼ a challenge to build because of the huge working loads they have to endure while holding their shape precisely – or even more challenging by deflecting by designed amounts. Moore Brothers recently made this custom prototype foil for an undisclosed 30ft foiling monohull.
Below: marine composite innovation. This single sided foil tooling was made possible by advanced 3D-modelling and CNC cutting of the different plies
Marine composite innovation. This single sided foil tooling was made possible by advanced 3D-modelling and CNC cutting of the different plies
Not every project requires such elite treatment, though. When local boatyards need a rudder rebuilt on a stainless steel post, they do that too. ‘We spend a lot of time making sure we're delivering good value,’ Oliver says. ‘We design the process to get you a nice high-quality result at an accessible price. Whatever the project, we’ll make it happen.’
CNC workflow
From design to final product, Moore Bros rely on the programmable accuracy of CNC technology. ‘I use a CNC machine like a table saw,’ Oliver says. ‘Even for repairs, I start by drawing on the computer.’ Naval architects and boatbuilders around the world are able to subcontract their most difficult parts out to Moore Brothers, knowing the end product will fit and perform as promised.
A perfect example is the Botín 55 Outlier. When builder Brooklin Boat Yard needed a rudder, chainplates, quadrant, bowsprit and masts for radar and wind generator that would all fit perfectly once the boat was finished, they called Moore Brothers. After the boat was launched, it needed a second rudder to improve offshore handling and Oliver and Sam got another call. ‘The yard was just thrilled, because it showed up in a box and it plugged right in. Not everyone can do that,’ Oliver points out. And because it was designed and manufactured on the CNC machine rather than handshaped, they’ll be able to produce another rudder that fits just as perfectly, if that’s ever needed.
Band of brothers
Oliver and Sam split the nitty gritty of running the business and they’ve strategically built a workforce that places innovative youngsters just out of school side by side with composite industry veterans. The goal is to maximise knowledge transfer, while continuing to innovate and improve.
They know they’re the next generation of Bristol boatbuilders, but even three years after merging with CSI, they are very conscious of the help they received from mentors like Jeff Kent and Steve Clark. As Oliver puts it, ‘we have done our best to learn from them and yet make sure we're moving forward.’
Nimble AND experienced – the very best of both worlds.
