As a Commander in the Royal Navy, it is only right and proper that over the last 50 years or so, James Bond, 007 has been involved in some marvellous power boating scenes. As a younger man, the sheer ‘Bondishness’ of the boats he commanded, captured my imagination. I felt I would like to be a part of the glamour and luxury of this mystical boating world. Of course, these boats exist and surely if I had one, I too could have this amazing lifestyle, right? Note: Please, conduct a quick Google on a “Riva Aquarama Special” or something similar for pricing and you will notice this is the folly of the very wealthy.

I am a man of humble means, owning a boat like this can be incredibly expensive to purchase and sustain. At the time of starting this project, I was a young man, in my mid to late 20’s, recently married with 2 young children and a mortgage. I didn’t have a lot of spare time to work on any project. The floods weren’t coming; my name is not Noah nor am I a bearded woodsman. I have not built nor owned a boat (not even licenced), I didn’t appreciate the skill needed to work with timber and don’t count myself as capable of such a build.

These are all perfectly decent and rational reasons to not build a boat to many, however to me, this was the perfect storm to start me off on building the boat of my dreams. After much searching for plans, I found the Glen L Monaco (utility) and bought the pans (in actual blueprint format) for a very small fee, this was the catalyst to kick off the build.

Building an uncommon boat - not a coke can (in aluminium) or lunchbox (in fibreglass), I was immediately met with resistance from both friends

and suppliers. “Why don’t you build something smaller or easier” and “that is American, it will be expensive” are very common phrases I have been dealt over the years, but I persisted. I found a Mahogany supplier close to home and an epoxy supplier a short drive from home after meeting them both at a woodworking trade show. For a relatively small investment, I now had the materials to make a start.

“Daddy is building a dinosaur” my kids remarked as it started to take shape.

But as the years progressed, it became a storage location as work slowed down. “What a mess” my wife exclaimed as spillages, damage to the garage floor and the sawdust began to pile up. My children started to grow and play weekend sports, my Saturdays gave way to junior soccer and netball.

The mess, as I built, hid the underlying beauty of the timber I was using. Until one day when I applied my first coat to the freshly sanded hull. My secret was out and neighbours started to notice.

The engine was a great find. I was on eBay for many months, looking for an engine that I would be suitable for my boat. I had all but given up when I happened to luck upon a seller on the Central Coast of NSW that had been unlucky selling his engine. Seeing a diamond in the rough, I went up to have a look. To my amazement, there it was in all its glory, the oil filter was still painted in place from the factory, but why hadn’t it sold already? Turns out it was “too new” with all the computers and sensors, it put all of the old timers off straight away. He didn’t have a battery or fuel so couldn’t start it – there went the other 99% of his potential buyers. Noting I was always up for a challenge, I did some basic checks – pulled the spark plugs – looked at the bore, checked the oil and barred it over a bit. Seemed good to me and at that price, if it was no good, I could strip it for parts and re-list them on eBay, probably breaking even.

“What do you mean you didn’t start it?” my wife exclaimed as I proudly delivered it to my garage. I sheepishly proceeded to receive a tough time for the next couple of weeks as I sourced the parts and wiring diagrams necessary to show her I wasn’t as silly as I looked. One bright Sunday morning  soon after (about 07:00 am, as I remember), I wheeled the engine into position outside my garage (so as not to flood my garage). Again, apologies to my neighbours, but it quickly roared to life (5.7L V8 approx. 300Hp). With no exhaust, my eyeballs shook, the windows shook and the neighbourhood dogs went crazy, windows flicked open to see where the noise was coming from. My wife flew out the door “What is that noise…” only to see my satisfied and smiling face peering back at her.

I had horsepower, only a thousand more parts to buy/assemble.

The hull started to come together. “Yeah, but will it float” or “what if it sinks” became the new phrase I heard with familiar regularity. I was always confident in the design, my skills were 50/50, however, the materials were something else. Fijian Mahogany is light, flexible and really nice to work with. Marine ply is strong and when glued into place, it became a beautiful component of the boat structure.

As the weight started to increase (with the engine and other components) it was time to get some proper support under the hull, time for a trailer (also: the dolly wheels broke). Living in Western Sydney I thought I would be spoiled for choice here, however when you utter the words “I have built my own boat, I don’t really know what kind of trailer I need”, they will send a shudder down the spine of trailer manufacturers everywhere. A couple that were up to the challenge, felt it appropriate to price accordingly. As I will reiterate, I am a man of humble means and throwing money at the situation was not something I could afford to do.

Thank you again central coast, I was able to find a trailer builder that was up to the challenge, he was renowned on the internet for borrowing ideas of more expensive trailer boats and building very similar products, however, I would say he built it better. The trailer builder sent me a rough drawing of what he thought, I gave him some measurements and he created a stunning galvanised and powder coated trailer of very high quality.

The day was set, the engine removed (to reduce weight) and the hull made the first contact with its new trailer, I was now mobile. My wife was so happy, she was set to have her garage returned, she could finally park her car inside and avoid that run inside when the rain/cold sets in. To her dismay, she was not so lucky. In my dealings with the trailer builder, I specified a draw bar joint, allowing me to remove the majority of the drawbar. The trailer still fitted into the garage, only just, but enough to keep my dream boat safe from the weather. 

I had the tow ball weight taken professionally as part of a safety inspection survey (for insurance – more on that later) it came in at about 65Kg – the trailer fitted the boat almost perfectly.

I was on the home stretch, it couldn’t bee too much more, surely. Notice the angle of the photo, my creative photo angle hides the fact the decking hadn’t been installed (and about 500 other little jobs). This is 1300 hours in, I still had plenty more to go. I kept chipping away, slowly I kept the momentum going.

By this stage, my skills with epoxy were improving, this stuff isn’t that bad to work with. This was until I started to fill in the decking gaps. You see, in my haste, I thought it would be a good idea to colour the epoxy and simply pour it into the gap. Anyone who knows epoxy will tell you, it can be a real hassle to remove air bubbles. Well, try removing air bubbles on a curved surface, gravity working against you, in a solid colour pour of epoxy. Turns out, I made a mess, but I was committed. I kept pouring as it oozed out from under my tape, spilled on the floor, got in my hair (don’t ask – there was cursing). Over a couple of months and a lot of sanding, I had removed the bulk of my mess and filled in the bubbles, one by one (hundreds), with a toothpick dipped in a small resin batch.

Painstaking, yes, worth it, I will let you be the judge. (p.s. the engine cover does line up)

Registration was my next battle. Beaming, I walked into the local RMS, where I met Susie. She had been at working for the RMS for more than 25 years and had never seen anyone (other than a boat dealer) ask for a new rego, let alone on a home-made boat. She started typing, after 15 minutes or so of stressful glances and awkward conversation, she needed to call her supervisor over. “Hello sir, where did you buy this boat?” the supervisor asked “no… I built it….from scratch”. The stress level increased for everyone over the next 5-10 minutes and they conversed over what they were going to do. I showed them photos of my work, including the hull identification numbers I had sourced/installed the week before in desperation to get over this hurdle, I was starting to panic. “No problem, sir – all done, here is your new rego number.” I almost fell apart there on the spot. I thought for sure I would be knocked back to the drawing board. I now had registration – the boat was legal to get in the water. 

I took myself and wife off to the local boat shop to sit our licence, we were now legal to drive.

But what about insurance? How do you put a price on this for insurance purposes? I started ringing around like I had done so many time before (sourcing parts, looking for help etc.) but it was a stone cold – NO! “But why,” I asked? Insurance companies it seemed, didn’t like the fact that there was no model or serial number, that would be easily available for any off the shelf boat. This would allow them to compare pricing and give a price based on computer modelling/algorithms. I think my situation made their computers meltdown. “The boat is not professionally built…” one insurance provider stated, to which I took exception. I will gladly provide you photos, you can come and have a look if you wish, even an untrained eye wouldn’t question the professionalism applied to this boat. Needless to say, I kept looking, but the phone book was starting to dry up.

I was at a loss, what do I do? I had one last number, one last gamble.

I rang Nautilus Marine insurance and like so many calls before, I didn’t fit the mould. “let me transfer you to my supervisor” the lady said. Here we go, I thought, another rejection. “hello sir, can I help you” I thought why not, give her the storey, see what happens. “We can help you with that, we just need a survey from an approved provider”. Turns out I had one already, just for my own sanity, I had already had the boat surveyed. “sure, we can offer you insurance…” the lady said, I was so happy. “Sorry I had been such a pain” I exclaimed, thinking I had been so painful to deal with.

“Not at all…” she said. I paid the fee and now I was insured, there was nothing holding me back now.

“Yay - let’s put it in the water” my now much older children said and a date was booked in.

I hadn’t towed a boat much before, let alone backed it down a boat ramp. I decided I would pick the closest ramp to home (to avoid possible incidents along the way), this was the Nepean river. With a Queen Alexandra Birdwing (large butterfly) in my stomach, I took a run at it. Expecting the other boat owners to give me a hazing for my amateur reversing skills, it was quite the opposite, with other owners assisting me to reverse it in and being more than accommodating. 

“You don’t see them like that anymore” on older gentleman commented. “Where did you buy that” said another. When I told them I built it from scratch, they nodded along, but I don’t think they believed me. Just like at 07:00 in the morning, I put the key in and turned, putting all 8 cylinders into action – it didn’t skip a beat and roared to life. We were in, it was working and with a small exhaust water leak tightened, we were waterproof.

I will admit, I don’t know the top speed yet, I had the throttle at ¾ open and it was amazingly stable, skipping across the water like it was happy to be home, in its natural environment. I didn’t have the courage to open it right up, I will one day, but for now, it is quick and responsive enough.

I had built my dream boat, well before retirement. Surely now I could be James Bond, international man of mystery. With my beautiful wife by my side and children with smiles from ear to ear, I think we did achieve what I set out to do 7 years (nearly 2,000 hours of work) ago. It’s not easy, I don’t think I will make any money (if I chose to sell), but how often do you get to undertake a project that delivers such a beautiful result?