Bristol Marine: The TERN's Home Base
Bristol Marine in Somerset, Massachusetts is now the permanent home base for the S/V PAVITI TERN. Located on the protected Taunton River off Mount Hope Bay, the Somerset yard gives the TERN a working waterfront setting where she can be cared for, prepared, and brought back into service for veterans. Bristol Marine’s Somerset location includes carpentry, mechanical, metal, paint, and yard service teams, along with facilities built to support repair, refit, restoration, and long term vessel care. Their trades include traditional wooden boatbuilding and wooden boat restoration, along with metal fabrication and mechanical support, making the yard a strong fit for the future of the TERN.
For Paviti Tern, Bristol Marine is more than a place to dock a boat. It is where the next stage of the mission begins. The TERN will be prepared for safe time on the water, dockside learning, volunteer training, and future sailing with veterans on Mount Hope Bay, Newport, Block Island, and nearby waters. As the program grows, veteran volunteers will have the opportunity to learn seamanship, help care for the vessel, assist with dockside work, and become part of the crew culture that will carry the mission forward.
A Working Waterfront With the Right Skills Around the TERN
The Somerset yard has deep maritime roots. Bristol Marine notes that the site was originally Bower’s Shipyard and remains part of the working waterfront along the Taunton River. Today, the yard includes heated service buildings, seasonal and transient service slips, a paint booth, and staffed carpentry, mechanical, and metal shops. That matters for the TERN because the vessel’s future will require both practical day to day support and long range restoration planning.
This is also where the TERN can be surrounded by the type of hands on skill that fits the mission. Veteran volunteers may begin with dockside learning, line handling, sail preparation, light painting, varnishing, and basic boat care. Later phases may include larger restoration projects, interior redesign, mechanical planning, and continued vessel improvements. Having the TERN based at Bristol Marine gives the mission a steady home where this work can happen with structure, support, and purpose.
Mason Fortier, Project Manager at Bristol Marine
Mason Fortier is a Project Manager at Bristol Marine’s Somerset yard and will be an important point of connection for the TERN’s work at the marina. Bristol Marine lists Mason Fortier as a Project Manager at the Somerset location, joining the team in 2024. In that role, Mason helps represent the type of practical project coordination the TERN will need as work is planned, scheduled, and carried forward around the vessel.
For Paviti Tern, having a project manager involved is important. The TERN is not just being stored. She is being prepared for service. That requires coordination between the vessel, the marina, skilled trades, and veteran volunteers. Mason’s role helps support that process by helping the work around the TERN stay organized as the mission moves from dockside preparation to future sailing and restoration phases.
Preparing the TERN for Veterans on the Water
The current focus is to return the TERN to operating condition and begin building a small group of veteran volunteers who can learn around the vessel. Training may begin dockside with the basics of sailing and seamanship before expanding to local daysailing as the boat and crew are ready. Volunteers may learn how to bend sails, handle halyards and sheets, use roller furlers, tie dock lines, assist with basic navigation, and support safe boat handling.
The long term vision is bigger than a single summer. Bristol Marine gives the TERN a permanent home base where veteran volunteers can gather, learn, help, and reconnect through time on the water. The goal is to create a place where veterans are not only invited to watch from the shoreline, but to step aboard, take part, and help shape the future of the vessel.
A Home for the Mission
The TERN has found more than a dock. She has found a home base where the mission can grow. From Bristol Marine in Somerset, Paviti Tern can continue building a program around truth, service, seamanship, volunteer purpose, and veterans standing together.
As work continues, the TERN will serve as a place where veterans can learn new skills, help preserve a meaningful vessel, and prepare for future time on the water. Bristol Marine provides the setting. Veteran volunteers provide the heart of the mission. Together, this is where the next chapter of Paviti Tern begins.