Boatbuilding is a made-to-measure career choice

By ESTELLE SARNEY

Talk to Alison Harvey and you realise there's nothing glamorous about super yachts if you're at the construction end.

"I wear a face mask most of the time to avoid breathing in dust and fumes, and I've got people climbing all over me because we're working in such a confined space."

The payoff for the marine cabinetmaking apprentice is the satisfaction of seeing her finished product - metres of gleaming wood fittings, custom-built to precise measurements, with the quality finish you'd expect in a boat worth millions of dollars.

And, occasionally, she gets to go for a spin on the water during sea trials.

Harvey, 25, is one of nine apprentices employed by New Zealand Yachting Developments in Auckland.

Director Ian Cook expects the departure of the America's Cup to have little effect on business, as New Zealand's boatbuilding reputation was established long before.

The company employs 70 boatbuilders, each specialising in areas such as initial construction, laminating, electronics, engineering, cabinetmaking, upholstery or painting.

The 10-year-old company specialises in super yachts, which take about 18 months each to build. Cook likes to have two vessels on the go at once.

When one contract was cancelled, because of overseas economic nervousness over the threat of war in Iraq, the company chased up contacts and soon gained another order.

Peter Busfield of the Boating Industries Association says local and overseas contracts for boats of all shapes and sizes are still rolling in.

Boatbuilding is New Zealand's largest manufacturing industry outside the primary sector, turning over $700 million a year and on track to break $1 billion by 2005.

It employs 5000 people, 7000 if you include those who make components such as hatches, sails and ropes.

About 10 per cent of industry workers are working towards qualifications with their industry training organisation (ITO) for a national certificate in boatbuilding, or, in Harvey's case, a national certificate in marine cabinetmaking.

These take three to five years to gain while working full-time. Apprentices are paid $9-$11 an hour. Once qualified, a boatbuilder can earn $19-$28 an hour depending on their area of speciality and level of skill.

The ITO's general manager, Robert Brooke, says there is a constant demand for new recruits. His organisation targets not only secondary and tertiary students, but also older workers considering a career change.

Courses run at night and on weekends help those with backgrounds in, say, engineering or construction, cross over into boatbuilding.

"Building a super yacht is like building a small hotel," says Busfield, "except everything has to be custom-made."

Harvey finds this has given greater variety in her work than she would have had working in an ordinary cabinetmaking factory, where she might have been making only one thing.

On a yacht, she has to read plans, formulate measurements for a wide range of cabinetry, and work out the most efficient way of building it in terms of time, cost, and the weight it will add to the boat.

"A good grasp of maths is a pretty important part of boatbuilding," says Cook. "And you need quite a placid temperament to be able to work with a lot of people in a confined space, on products that are not square but still detailed and precisely constructed. A feeling for boating also helps."

There isn't high demand for designers in New Zealand, but if you do want to aim high, Peter Jackson of Auckland University recommends a degree in mechanical engineering. The university may offer study in naval architecture in the future.

Boatbuilding is still extremely male-dominated - Harvey is one of a handful of women apprentices out of 500 people on the ITO's books, though the industry would like that to change.

"You don't want to be too easily offended," laughs Harvey. "If the conversation gets too colourful, I just put my ear muffs on."

Busfield says the industry is typical of the local business landscape - made up largely of small to medium-sized companies.

"We have 400 member companies, and only four of them employ more than 100 people," he says. "The vast majority have less than 30. So you need to be an all-rounder, have a good dose of kiwi ingenuity, the ability to think laterally and practical, hands-on skills."

Many of those companies are supplying the local market. About 5000 boats go on sale in New Zealand each year, of which 4500 are made here.

Auckland is home to 70 per cent of the industry, with Whangarei, Hamilton and Tauranga the next biggest centres.

Harvey plans to eventually work in the boatyards of Europe and the United States, NZ boatbuilders' main competition.

"Winning the America's Cup gave our marketing and brand awareness a boost that we couldn't have achieved in 20 years," says Busfield.

"But the industry is now on such a solid footing that losing the Cup is not going to stop our momentum."

Further reading: nzherald.co.nz/marine