Boat builder boosts Berrien with boatload of help

Published 1:00 pm Monday, April 20, 2020

NASHVILLE — A major Berrien County manufacturer may not be building boats right now, but it’s helping keep the community afloat.

Chaparral Boats, which manufactures pleasure and fishing craft, donated hundreds of N95 respirator masks it received recently to area hospitals and nursing homes, including South Georgia Medical Center’s Berrien campus, said Ann Baldree, vice president of the company.

The N95 masks are specially designed to filter tiny particles, and have been in heavy demand since the pandemic broke out.

Chaparral’s parent company, Marine Products Corporation, also announced Friday it has donated $100,000 to The Caring Place, which runs a food distribution service in Berrien County. The donation was made through the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation, controlled and funded by Marine Products’ majority shareholder, according to a company statement.

“Chaparral Boats has operated in Nashville since 1976,” said Richard A. Hubbell, Chaparral chief executive officer. “This community and its support mean a great deal to us. In turn, we have always been proud of our involvement in the local economy, and we are pleased to participate in a meaningful way to support our employees, their families and the broader community around Nashville.”

The O. Wayne Rollins Foundation’s efforts have historically emphasized the support of U.S. colleges and universities with a focus on public health issues and scientific research, the statement said.

The boat plant, which normally employs more than 700 workers, was temporarily shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic March 27, Baldree said.

“We actually shut down a week before the governor issued the mandatory stay-at-home order,” said Bill Pegg, the company’s senior vice president.

No cases of the coronavirus had been reported among workers before the closure, he said.

Because of maintenance issues, a skeletal crew — “as minimal as possible” — has kept working, Baldree said.

A hoped-for reopening date of April 27 now seems less likely, Pegg said.

“We’re keeping a watch on the situation and making plans week to week,” he said.

Precautions planned for the plant include protective gear, reconfiguring work stations to put as much space as possible between workers and buying lots of cleaning materials, Pegg said.

“We’ve been buying drums of sanitizer,” he said.