60 Years of Aussie Boat-building

It takes passion, perseverance, and skills to design and build boats. Thankfully, Alan Graham has all of these attributes in abundance.

Alan Graham is another of those rapidly diminishing bands of Aussie wooden boatbuilders who has invested his heart and soul alongside his artisan skills in creating wonderful wooden boats. As with many of his peers, Alan is modest and unassuming, and needed some convincing to share details of his boatbuilding achievements. 

It all began when Alan undertook an apprenticeship in the late-1950s at a boatyard in Brisbane. He has many memories from those times. 

During his apprenticeship, Alan designed and built his first boat in 1958. It was a 12ft V-bottom canoe powered by a ‘Vinco’ water-cooled engine of about 2hp. The engine had no water pump but was cooled by water being picked up from a scoop behind the prop. Alan noted, “The windscreen was cut from the perspex gunner’s turret of a World War II bomber, and the prop was enclosed by a bronze shield to prevent injury. The canoe was quite fast, and went up to 12m/h.”

After completing his apprenticeship, Alan moved away from the marine industry for a while until, in 1966, he returned to boatbuilding on a self-employed basis, establishing his business in Gumdale, Brisbane. To aid construction of boats while keeping costs under control, Alan designed and built his own 16in bandsaw rather than buying a commercial unit. He further economised by using the same electric motor to drive his compressor, simply by changing over the drive belt.

He started building 12ft open runabouts of his own design. Patterns were made of marine plywood for each part and the boats assembled on a jig. The hulls were painted and sold for around $185 each. Alan built eight of these boats and “they sold like hot cakes.”

During 1967, Alan designed and built a 15ft 6in by 7ft beam half-cabin cruiser called ‘Valli’. He went on to build three other vessels to the same design but lengthened them by two feet for more cockpit space.

In 1968, Alan designed and built a 13ft fast runabout. It was such a good design, with wider-than-usual chines for fast planing and good stability, that it led to Alan joining iconic Australian boatbuilder Haines Hunter. There he was involved with the design and development of models such as the V13, V17L, and the SO series of ski boats. One of Alan’s extended Valli designs was developed into the Haines Hunter V183.

In July 1972, Alan left Haines Hunter to work for Perihelion, which was setting up as a fibreglass boatbuilder. He was employed to design and build hulls, decks and cabins for moulding in glass. On his first day, though, Alan was confronted with a totally empty factory. He needed to build a bandsaw himself to get things underway, and went on to design the Seametre 625, which he later described as “the best boat to ever come from my drawing board.”

All went well until the disastrous Brisbane River floods in January 1974, which put the factory under 20ft of water. When that receded the factory was a smelly, muddy, sticky mess. Alan and other staff got together and cleaned it up, but leaking polyester resin had coated three finished boats, rendering them written off. Alan had designed and built a plug for a 28-footer which was close to moulding stage at the time of the flood, and it was severely damaged. 

“I had put so much work into that boat and seeing it in that damaged state was heartbreaking. When I was asked if I could repair it, I just couldn’t face up to doing it and surrendered my contract conditions.” 

After the floods, Perihelion went into receivership and the moulds went to auction. The Seametre 625 moulds were purchased by Cruise Craft, and the plug that Alan had produced for the larger 28-footer Seametre 8.5 was purchased by Haines Hunter. Both designs were subsequently developed and produced by those famous Aussie companies.

Alan needed a new job and in June 1974, he went to work for EasyRider Boats in Hemmant. His job was to modify existing hulls and decks to make them look like new models. 

After that, a career change into transport led to shift-based work, which gave Alan plenty of free time for a hobby. So, in 1986, he decided to use that time to do what he really loved — building wooden boats. He had collected several putt-putt engines over the years, and he decided to design and build a putt-putt launch with a clinker hull. It took exactly 12 months of his spare time for Alan to build the putt-putt, which he called ‘Classic’.

He used 3/8in marine ply planking over spotted gum steam-bent ribs with copper fastenings, with all joints and planking-laps epoxy-glued. A 5hp Stuart Turner was used for power. The boat, and Alan, featured in a number of newspaper articles at the time, especially as Alan had been a founding member of the Traditional and Vintage Boat Association. ‘Classic’ featured in a number of aquatic events as part of Brisbane’s 1988 Bicentennial and World Expo ’88 celebrations.

The wonders of working with wood — and the appeal of making the most of his skills — inevitably led Alan to create more triumphs in timber. During 1989, Alan constructed a 12ft 8in Herreshoff-designed ‘Catspaw’ dinghy. Alan built a jig upon which to construct the boat, and patterns were made for all parts, including the planking. Alan built the ‘Catspaw’ in just 240 hours including the mast and varnishing. He recalled, “It’s strange, but I didn’t seem to be able to stop at just one boat, so in 1991 I built ‘Ella’ on the same jig”. 

‘Ella’ was a star attraction at a number of inter-state vintage boating festivals, including Alan’s more local Bribie Island Boat Regatta where Alan was an enthusiastic supporter and, at times, organiser. He provided initial funding to get the event running and saw it develop into the very successful regatta it is today (cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19).

As a change of pace from putt-putt style boats, Alan's next design was for ‘Getaway.’ This was also in a traditional style, but as a true-blue Aussie half-cabin cruiser. 

“Before building a boat I draw a plan of the lines on paper, usually to a scale of one-inch equals one-foot. Then a half-model to that scale is constructed to give me a three-dimensional look at the new boat. I build the model using laminated timber pieces with the outline of each lamination corresponding to the hull’s lines at that depth above the keel. Then I use a plane and spokeshave to fair the laminations into a smooth representation of the hull’s lines.” 

Alan built ‘Getaway’ between June 1995 and November 1996. His design had a length of 17ft 9in and was built with Kwila frames, stringers, and rub rails with 10mm marine ply surfaces and other parts in hoop pine. He used stainless steel fastenings with all joints epoxy-glued. Power was provided by a 7hp single-cylinder four-stroke ‘Olds’ marine engine that was built in 1957 by the Olds and Sons company in Maryborough. The Olds takes ‘Getaway’ to 5.4 knots at 900rpm for enjoyable cruising and to a top speed of 6 knots at 1000rpm. 

By then Alan had retired, but it was no time for an easy life, and he continued designing and building launches and half-cab cruisers. He also saved and restored a number of other craft that would have rotted away without his care and skills.

“I built my next boat for easier long distance towing to inter-state events. I drew up plans for what I considered to be a typical 16-foot putt-putt. I had a very good 5/7hp Blaxland engine to install. I also had a Blaxland clutch and prop I could use. Because I would be using all those from the same company, I decided to call the boat ‘Blaxlander.’ ”

"It took me approximately 350 hours to complete the boat from July to December 2002. I used Pacific maple marine plywood with all joints epoxy-glued and traditionally copper-nailed and roved along the plank laps. The ribs were select spotted gum and the seats and flooring were Queensland hoop pine. I was very pleased with the performance of this new boat, and the ease with which it towed behind my Commodore.” 

Later that year at the annual Davistown Classic Boat Regatta, ‘Blaxlander’ won the award for the ‘Best Boat Under 10 years Of Age.’ In October 2004 at Davistown, ‘Blaxlander’ won that award again as well as very convincingly winning the ‘Putt-Putt Challenge.’

While Alan was attending the 2003 Davistown Regatta with ‘Blaxlander’, he was approached by well-known and highly-respected putt-putt engine expert Boyd Myers. Boyd asked Alan if he would build him a putt-putt launch. Alan did so with half-inch Pacific Maple marine ply over spotted gum ribs and with the deck of silver ash and Kwila timbers. A one-piece stem of tea tree was used with an all-natural bend around the forefoot. 

Boyd installed his own rebuilt 5/7hp Blaxland engine that feeds from a 13L tank and takes the boat to a top speed of 6.5 knots at 1200rpm spinning a prop that Boyd made himself. He completed the boat, which he named ‘M V Allwood’, in time for the 2005 Davistown Regatta, where he won the ‘Putt-Putt Challenge’ and the award for the ‘Best Putt-Putt Under 10 Years.’ 

After building several other launches, Alan wanted to share his boatbuilding knowledge and was determined to produce a video feature that would show how a clinker launch is built from scratch. To achieve that he designed a 16ft launch and constructed it while filming every step along the way. The result is a superb video production entitled ‘All You Ever Wanted To Know About Clinker Boatbuilding.’

The two-disc video shows in wonderful detail every step that needs to be taken to construct a clinker launch, and showcases the skills, care, and devotion needed to build a wooden boat. It also highlights the wonderful sense of accomplishment that comes from persevering with such a project to end up with a fully functional work of art. 

Although based in Queensland, many of Alan’s putt-putt friends and associates and many of his putt-putting activities are in NSW. To emphasise the origins of his video-production boat during its times ‘south-of-the-border’, Alan decided to call it ‘Queensland Maid’. 

After more of Alan’s boats had been launched, the last boat he built was ‘J & A Classic’, which was constructed between March 2018 and March 2019. He explained how it came about. 

“My first putt-putt boat ‘Classic’ was absolutely my favourite, but I sold it in March 2013 to make way for other boats. So I decided to design and build a slightly smaller version. I really couldn't explain any sense in my decision to build yet another boat in my 80th year! Maybe dementia was setting in!” 

For ‘J & A Classic’, Alan laid out a set of lines that would be very efficient for engines from 6–12hp. In the construction he used steam-bent spotted gum for the ribs along with cedar for the sheer plank and transom and 9mm hoop pine marine ply for the planking. 

Alan concluded, “I’ve really enjoyed all the time I’ve spent boatbuilding and feel that I’m helping to preserve what could become a dying art. I have obtained a great deal of satisfaction from creating the boats I’ve built, and have some wonderful memories of all aspects of designing, building, operating and showing the boats at regattas and displays. Through my boats, I have met some wonderful people, many of whom have become close friends. I hope features such as this one will help preserve the wonders and delights of wooden boats. If anyone would like to find out more about my boats, I can be contacted at graham.alanj@gmail.com.”