Dinghies to luxury launches

By ROBIN BAILEY

The superyacht building boom has been creating headlines as this country's marine industry takes a huge leap forward thanks in part to the America's Cup.

New Zealand success stories are not confined to the top end of the market. Old established companies, many of them with histories going back to early last century, are catering for the lower end of the luxury-boat market, turning out launches with price tags of up to $1.5 million.

The Oliver brand is one of these. The Tauranga-based company goes back three generations to Pukekawa on the Waikato River. It was there in 1934 that Willoughby (Willie) Oliver, a farmer with salt water in his blood, began building clinker dinghies in an old shed on the banks of the river.

Then came a 32-foot kauri launch, a bridge-decker called Lady Joyce, which is still going strong in Auckland. That was the start of the Oliver story. By the mid-1940s Willie had quit the farm and moved to Tauranga to establish a thriving business designing and building pleasure boats and game-fishing launches.

For a time Willie's son-in-law, Ted Gilpin, came into the business as a partner and the pair created boats under the Oliver and Gilpin brand. Three of these, Lady Margaret, Lady Karen and Carousel are still among the most famous names in game fishing in this country.

By the early 1960s, Willie's only son, John, expressed a desire to get into the business. Willie sent him off to "learn another trade, then come back and we'll see what happens."

Taking his father at his word, John Oliver completed a carpentry apprenticeship, then began work with his father. As Willie eased into retirement, John continued to design and build boats that enhanced the Oliver tradition for quality and efficiency until his retirement in 1986. By then John's son George had joined him in the business, and after his father moved out George restructured the company and moved from traditional timber construction into GRP. That was in the early 1990s and after an intensive research and development programme the company began building the Royale and Corinthian range of high-powered luxury monohulls.

The end of that decade saw Oliver Marine International located in a new purpose-build yard in Tauranga, turning out boats for America's Cup watchers and an international client base.

Early this year the company was restructured again to take advantage of the growing reputation of the Oliver brand. Peter Heald, an Auckland businessman already involved with the industry as managing director of Barton McGill Marine, came on board. That 110-year-old company had a long history of creating quality products for the leisure industry before he took it into the marine sector.

The move into Oliver was a personal decision by Heald, not an extension of the BMG operation. He restructured the Tauranga company, putting a new corporate management and marketing formula in place. He also brought in a small group of new investors to give the company the additional financial muscle needed to develop an international sales presence.

"I had long been aware of Oliver Marine's reputation for high standards and high performance," says Heald. "The opportunity was there to create an organisation that could ensure its future. That we have been successful was recognised at the New Zealand Boat Show in June when our Corinthian Diamante 400 won the Boat of the Show award in the open launches class."

Back in Tauranga this week, George Oliver's team was packing the prize-winning Diamante ready for shipment to its new owner in the British Virgin Islands. Complete with twin 370hp Yanmar diesels, the Corinthian 400 comes with a price tag of exactly $850,124. Convert that to American dollars and the Corinthian 400 is a steal. Which is why Heald has set up a network of dealerships and agencies in Australia, the United States and the Caribbean.

With a third generation in charge of manufacturing, the Oliver boatbuilding reputation is set for another big leap forward.