Atkins & Co. Boat Builders

Bitten by the Bug!
My first boat was built at the age of ten. Inspired by a library book I constructed an Inuit style canoe from a roll of orange builder's plastic and most of my mothers favorite stand of bamboo. Much to my amazement it worked and even lasted a few weeks.

From that moment on the bug had bitten and I was irrevocably headed down a path as a boat builder.

Much of my early work involved small traditional sailing dinghies and rowing boats, but as time moved on so did the size of the boats.

Much of what we have learnt has been from working on repair & restoration work. After all, when restoring wooden boats over eighty years old there is a wealth of information to be gleaned.

As time moved on though, the possibilities of composites grew too strong to be ignored, and carbon fibre reinforced masts & foam cored hulls began to be part of our repertoire.

For many years we were associated with the Wooden boat Centre in Melbourne and as a result were involved in many collaborative projects with owners and other builders. Each one was a learning experience, and brought an amazing array of craft across our doorstep.

After being located in the Melbourne Docklands for many years, we moved to South Australia in late 2007 and based ourselves in the Adelaide Hills.

Despite having moved to the driest state in the driest continent there seems to be plenty of work and given the waterways available here we intend to develop a line of boats of various sizes suitable for the Coorong and the Murray, drawing on the traditional boats that have developed here over the past century. The 40' fantail launch is the first of these.