James Phelps Moores Jr.

James Phelps Moores Jr., 69, passed away suddenly at his home in Beaufort, North Carolina on October 25, 2024. 

Jim was born to James Phelps Moores and Jacqueline Scamihorn, on March 9, 1955, in Indianapolis, Indiana, nowhere near his beloved ocean. Jim developed an early fascination with wooden boats and made it his life’s work.

As a boy, Jim would hide from his four sisters by crawling under the cover of the family’s Lyman water ski boat kept at their farm. While hidden, he would study how the boat was made for hours and vowed he would one day build such a boat. He did much more.

At age 14, Jim bought his first sailboat when the family moved to Miami after the death of his father. He sailed the Caribbean islands, Dominica and Bequia were his favorites, and worked as a charter captain on sailboats in the British Virgin Islands. 

At age 21, Jim sold his most prized possession, his wooden sailboat “Solan Goose” and bought R.S. Colson Boat Works in Lubec, Maine, which was built in 1912 from the remains of a burned down hotel floated by barge to its current location on the water. 

To study wooden boat building, he was apprenticed as a helper at some of the most notable shipyards in Maine. He ruined the knees on his lanky 6’4” frame jumping off scaffolding rather than climbing down steps to move faster as a helper to the master boatbuilders. 

The first wooden boat he built, a Maine dory, took so long that once he broke down the time, he made 3 cents an hour when it sold.

He got better and built dories and commercial fishing boats for Canadians. But when the Canadian dollar dropped during the Reagan years, times got so tough he was forced to collect driftwood on the beach to burn for heat because he couldn’t afford to buy more heating oil for the furnace.

Not one to ever give up, on one cold, hardscrabble winter day, Jim packed up his tools and loaded his truck and drove alone to South Florida to find work and send money up North to his wife and two young sons. 

Straight out of the Maine woods, Jim was naive about business and often got cheated in his early days in South Florida, but he still found work where there was none to be had during Maine winters.

With perseverance, creativity and excellence, Jim gradually grew his business from a one-man shop to Moores Marine in South Florida specializing in antique and classic wooden boat restorations and refits. 

In 2007, Moores Marine expanded with the construction of the 17-acre Moores Marine Yacht Center in Beaufort, N.C., and later acquired an additional five acres on the Intracoastal Water and created Beaufort Marine Center. Both boatyards were sold in 2020, and much of the inventory used to restore wooden boats was donated to the North Carolina Maritime Museum. 

During the course of his nearly 40-year career, Moores restored and refit more than 100 boats including a third of the remaining Trumpy yachts. Notable projects include a complete hull restoration of the eighth presidential yacht, “Honey Fitz”, a 1930 93-foot Defoe that served as the private yacht of five presidents, from Eisenhower, Kennedy to Nixon.

Under Jim’s leadership Moores Marine won the Innovation in Restoration award at The Wooden Boat Show's d'Elegance in Mystic, Conn., for its complete refit of the 1923 John G. Alden Schooner, “Summerwind”. The schooner won the Newport Bucket in the Grande Dame class two months after her launch.

Jim never quite retired and was active in the wooden boat world and adventuring until his final breath. Last summer he made a solo trip back to Lubec, Maine to pick up a 1940 30-foot scalloper that he began to restore as a young 21-year-old boat builder. Jim was busy planning her complete restoration and had chosen for her the apt name, “Perseverance”. She was to live next to “Patience” – a 27-foot triple cockpit which Jim conceived of and built with his small crew of Oleg and Anna Zuev and John Aneloski. Patience was inspired by the pre-World War II yacht masters and incorporated all Jim learned during his long career. Patience was launched in March of this year and Jim was very proud that she won awards at both the Antique and Classic Boat Society Sunnyland Chapter boat show in Lake Tavares, Florida and the Beaufort North Carolina Boat Show this spring. Jim spent many years living on boats and sailing the seas with his younger sons, Alexandre and Andre, and was so happy to finally fulfill his dream of sailing with his younger son, James. This past month, Jim and James sailed from Marblehead, Massachusetts to Maryland, on James’ Catalina 30 for his last cruising adventure at sea. 

Jim imparted his sense of adventure to all three of his sons, from Andre who served as a U.S. Marine and traveled the world to Alexandre, who crisscrossed the U.S., from Oregon to Connecticut as part of his broadcasting career that included working for ESPN. Alexandre now lives in Maine and is a mental health counselor, and James who recently earned his captain’s license and spent this last summer on “Innisfail,” a classic yacht that his father restored.

Jim was so much more than an adventurer and renowned restorer of antique and classic yachts. For many young boat builders and craftsmen, he was an inspiration, guide and mentor. Jim was eager to share his knowledge with the hope he could inspire a younger generation to take up the mantle and continue to “Keep Legends Alive.” Jim was always open to giving people a second, third and more chances. He could see the potential and goodness of the people he met no matter their current circumstances. Jim was a storyteller and raconteur. You knew you were in for a good time whenever Jim said, “Did I ever tell you about the time I was down in the Caribbean?” As Jim liked to say, “ I can do three of the four things required to play golf, “I can drive a golf cart, tell a good story, and make a cocktail.“ Jim was a true Renaissance Man -photographer, movie maker, artist, designer, builder, lover of music of all genres, gemstone collector, aficionado of women’s fashion, history and science. It’s a cliche, but Jim was bigger than life. 

Jim is survived by his beloved family, including his wife Margaret Zehren Moores, for whom he will always be the love of her life. Jim leaves behind his three beautiful sons Alexandre, Andre and James Moores and James’ mother Stephanie Smith. Also surviving him are loving stepson Matthew Barry and grandsons, Julian, Marcus and Arik Moores, and sisters Linda Baskin Rush, Shante Duree and Sandra Arene Moores. 

Jim was preceded in death by his parents James Phelps Moores and Jacqueline Moores, sister Cheryl Denen Moores, brother John Moores, and Nicole Fourmand, mother of Alexandre and Andre. 

The entire Zehren clan is in mourning over the loss of Jim who brought light, laughter and a good time to every family gathering. 

Jim’s funeral service will be held at 11 a.m., on Monday, November 4th, at Ryan Funeral Home located at 305 North 10th Street, De Pere, Wisconsin, followed by a graveside service at Allouez Catholic Cemetery. The family will receive friends beginning at 9:30 a.m., prior to the funeral service.

On a date to be announced there will be a celebration of life at Jim and Margaret’s home in Beaufort, North Carolina. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Friends of the North Carolina Maritime Museum at 315 Front Street, Beaufort, NC 28516.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences.

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory in Morehead City, NC.