The scaled-down version of the cabin of the M/V Eomaia contains a wheelhouse, bunks, a room for the head and cardboard cutouts of the couple and their stuffed animal mascot, "Pig."

They are building the full-sized version of the Eomaia at the One-Way Welding shop, just a couple hundred yards from their cabin.

When the boat finally sets sail in 2005, it will serve as a year-round research vessel and the couple's full-time home.

"For many people, moving onto a 46-foot boat would be downsizing," St-Amand said. "But for us it's actually a move up."

Living in confined quarters is nothing new for St-Amand and Holmes. They currently live in an 8-foot-by-12-foot cabin in the boatyard. And when they met some five years ago on the docks in Seldovia they were both living on their boats.

The couple's life has continued to involve the sea.

St-Amand has worked on boats as a Yamaha outboard mechanic and repairing, installing and fabricating vessel components. He started Otter Works, a company that offers marine science research and service charters, in 2000.

Holmes received a degree in Life Science from Iowa State University. She is a marine mammal enthusiast and has spent more than 360 days on Alaska waters.

The couple's project, the Eomaia, is a 46-foot steel work vessel built for extended duty in Alaska waters. It will carry up to six scientists and all the gear needed for research projects.

When finished the couple plans to pilot the boat to Adak Island and begin year-round research of otters, orcas and other whale species.

The two-week trip will be the boat's maiden voyage, but the boat already has had a long journey. The steel hull section of the Eomaia has passed through several hands.

"There are a lot of people in this town who have a vested interest or a passive interest in this project," St-Amand said.

The couple bought the Edwin Monk-designed hull from Homer resident Chris Moss. Moss, in turn, had inherited it from long-time resident and commercial fisherman Jack Gist.

As the story goes, Gist, a family friend of the Mosses, arrived in Homer in the early 1950s. Besides being a commercial fisherman, Gist owned a well-drilling company and a coal strip mine that was later turned into Homer's first dump.

"Like everyone who was commercial fishing at that time, he did a little bit of everything," Moss said.

Gist had spent years leasing fishing boats from the canneries, but decided one day to build a boat of his own.

In his own style, Moss said, Gist felt the only way to make sure a job was done right was to do it himself.

Gist bought the plans for the boat and began building the massive 64-foot-by-32-foot shop needed for the boat's construction.

He built the shop himself, poured the cement floors for the shop, and began construction of his dream boat by hand.

"Jack was a bachelor," Moss said. "And if there was a hard way to do it, that's how he did it. He was very meticulous."

Gist's go-it-alone attitude was laborious and his attention to detail was time-consuming. He only managed to complete the boat's hull before his back went out.

Gist was forced to shelve the project, and the unfinished vessel languished in its shop for years.

Gist died of diabetes and heart failure in 1996.

The large, steel-gray boat hull and shop was passed down to Moss. It sat there for another three or four years.

At the time St-Amand and Holmes were busy searching every dock and boat publication in Alaska for a boat that would fit their needs.

St-Amand eventually found the add for Gist's 42-foot hull, put a call into Moss, and then discussed it with Holmes.

"I asked her if she was sure she wanted to start the project," St-Amand said, knowing it would take nearly every penny they had to complete.

"I didn't have any doubts," Holmes said.

The couple bought the boat by selling some stocks and draining their bank accounts. And they are funding the boat's construction by selling every worldly possession they own.

"All our assets are being sold to pay for this tools, cabin," St-Amand said. "We sold two boats and a motorcycle already. There's plenty more to go."

Moss said the couple's frugal, do-it-yourself attitude would have pleased Grist.

"Jack always did things just a little different," Moss said.

"And they are continuing that tradition."

With boat title in hand the couple was one-step closer to fulfilling a dream.

All they had to do now was get the boat out of the shop.

"It was a big, empty bathtub when we got it," St-Amand said. "And we needed to build a trailer to get it out."

The couple found some scrap I-beams in the boat yard and cut and placed them beneath the boat by hand using crowbars. Jeff Harrigan, from One-Way Welding, fused the pieces together. Then they slid axels and tires under the frame and welded it all together.

Just to make sure the boat would fit in its new location, Harrigan measured the hull. The 42-foot boat St-Amand thought he had bought was actually 46-foot long.

"We got 4 feet for free," St-Amand joked. Luckily the One-Way Welding shop was just big enough.

With the trailer now complete, they pumped up the tires, lowered the hull, removed one of the walls of the shop, and pulled the M/V Eomaia out into the daylight for the first time.

From there it was towed to its current location and the real work began.

With the Eomaia fully supported in dry dock, the couple's stout trailer was sold to Marian Beck and now supports the M/V Danny J in the winter.

Since then, the couple has spent nearly 3,000 hours reinforcing the hull, adding bracing and building the engine compartments and the deck.

St-Amand said they have at least twice that much work left until she's seaworthy.

"How many hours are in a year?" St-Amand said.

The couple says they are on pace to put the Eomaia in the water by 2005, and they are actively searching for clients who want to use her for research.

So far the hard work has done little to diminish their resolve.

"They say building a boat or a house is stressful on a relationship," Holmes said. "But we're doing fine."

"Besides," Moss said. "Everyone has to work. You might as well work on something you love."

Moss said they are the perfect individuals to take the boat.

"Jack would have liked to see the boat being used how they are," he said.

Recently the couple sat closely together in their cabin and looked through photo albums full of whales and beach-combing trips.

They talked about skiffs, and research, where they have been, and where they will go.

"We're just continuing a dream," Holmes said.

The couple pulled out maps and charts of the Barren Islands, the Aleutian chain, and Adak Island and smiled at all the places in between they soon will call home.

Ben Stuart can be reached at ben.stuart@homernews.com.