Dan Higgins has been an incredibly competent and consistent volunteer here at Matthew Turner since he joined the project in March of 2014. He has accrued over 3400 volunteer hours, donating his time to specialized projects such as the propulsion and steering systems. He has much experience in boat building and sailing. Working on Mathew Turner has allowed Dan to put into one project all his skills and experience. Dan grew up in the Pacific Northwest near Puget Sound. Later travels took him to California, Asia and Hawaii where he lived for several years. Returning to Seattle, he designed and built his dream boat, a 50 foot Trawler. Its maiden voyage was to Hawaii in 1983 where he commercially fished. He returned to Tiburon in 1984 and now shares his time between Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and the Bay Area. His love of boating, building, and problem solving has been constant; He has built over 2 dozen boats. An avid sailor, Dan frequently races on SF Bay and has sailed across the Pacific 7 times, including 2 TransPac races. Currently he runs his own trawler to Alaska from Seattle every summer. You may also spot him catching Dungeness crabs outside the Gate in his 20 foot 1963 Bertram, Moppie.
Professionally he has worked as a machinist, welder, construction manager, 100 ton captain,and commercial fisherman. He has built numerous houses, boats, docks, gangways, and just about anything that fits thru the shop doors. Currently he and Carol spend their summers in Alaska sharing the experience with friends and commercially fishing for salmon. Their remote home features a large, well equipped shop, saw mill, and plenty of dock space for visiting boats.
For Dan, the Matthew Turner project has been an opportunity to build something he loves, with plenty of problems to solve and he has enjoyed every minute of it, working with so many fun, talented, and interesting people. He looks forward to seeing the the Turner under full sail this Fall!