Allen and Liz Rawl, owners of Allen C. Rawl Inc. Historic Maritime Recreations, make a living out of traveling the world building boats. The husband-and-wife team specializes in seafaring vessels based on historic “tall ships.” They’ve had great success in their ability to combine maritime history with practicality and naval architecture. Staff Reporter Conor Dougherty talked with Allen Rawl about how he got started, and his current project in San Pedro.

“I was a building contractor, and then I got interested in boats. I had a small one of my own that I did some work on, and I realized that I’d rather do that.

“The first boat I got paid for was the Pride of Baltimore in 1976. After that, I sold my business, not knowing how long it would take me to get into boats full time. It was a gamble but my thought was it would be at the very least a two- or three-year sabbatical. It has lasted much longer than that longer than anyone thought, at least.

“Right now we’re working in San Pedro on two brigantines for the Los Angeles Maritime Institute for their Topsail youth training program. They’ll be called the Exy Johnson and Irving Johnson, who were the first people to sail around the world and take youths with them, with the purpose of teaching them how to sail. This was in 1933.

“The last four boats I did were about $2 million to $2.25 million each. The two I’m building now are $5.6 million (combined). That includes the ships, the design and the facilities. I’d say $5.1 million of that is strictly for the boats.

“Quite often these projects get started by someone with interest in local history. If it has some historic significance, that sort of defines the purpose of the boat. Usually a feasibility study follows and then (the owner) drafts a business plan. The money comes from various sources sometimes the local government, one or two philanthropists and entrepreneurs, corporations sometimes get involved. It’s always different.

“Most of the time the plans don’t exist, so you develop them from research, which involves traveling abroad sometimes, going to museums and libraries, checking state and city records.

“Inquiries come in all the time. About one in 10 of these proposed projects come to fruition, though. Most times the deal falls through because of poor management, other times it’s just a bad idea.”