The recent sale of N°36 East Pier to the Seal Once / New Image Coatings Company took everyone by surprise, not least the former owners Tom Johnson and Jenny Stein. When Tom and Jenny were first approached about selling, Hank Croteau (inventor and developer of Seal Once, Seal Ends Once and other Seal products) was met with a flat refusal. This would have been the end of it were it not for the classic throw down: “Name your price, any price”. Never one to grow timid when faced with a hard decision, Jenny wrote a figure down on a scrap of paper and slid the scrap silently across the table at which they were gathered.
The rest, as they say, is history. Once the interior has been updated, this floating home will be the site of the new Seal Once Western States Showroom. Along with the Matthew Turner—another success story: 250 gallons of Seal-once and 25 gallons of Polyurethane were used on the ship’s wood framing—N°36 will be a test case to see how this water-based ecological marine-friendly product fares in our somewhat hostile environment.
Interestingly, Tom and Jenny will continue to live there, as the use as a showroom will only occasionally ever be needed. Anticipating a hefty tax hit, the couple plan to convert roughly half of the sale’s proceeds to gold bullion, which they’ll place under the living room floor. They’ve been meaning to rebalance their home for a while.