The building of the 65 foot hackmatack schooner "Janet May" began in 1981. Steve Pagels contracted with Philip Shelton and Don Baman to design and build a charter schooner for Bar Harbor, Maine. The design originated from the Biloxi, Mississippi freight schooners of the late 1800's. Philip Shelton modified the original design found in the second edition of Howard Chapelle's "National Watercraft Collection" and carved a half-hull model from which the Janet May was built. With a 20 foot beam and 5 foot draft (with centerboard up) she would make a stable platform from which to introduce "flatlanders" to the sites off the coast of Maine.