PE boat builder keeps well afloat
Indigo Boats producing four to five vessels a month
IT TAKES a crafty entrepreneur to successfully mix business with leisure and make it in a less than buoyant market segment and economy. But even a cursory glance around Blake Rubidge’s bustling Indigo Boats factory in Walmer Dunes Industrial Park shows that the Port Elizabeth businessman has kept his enterprise more than head and shoulders above the water.
This is despite manufacturing entry to high-end water craft and associated accessories predominantly for the leisure fishing, water skiing and leisure cruising markets in an economy hallmarked by shrinking levels of disposable income.
Rubidge, however, has a number of important advantages, not least of which is a passion for boats and more specifically, a passion for boat design.
In addition, and backed by decades of experience building boats, Rubidge attributed the company’s success to a solid business model, tenacity, client-relationship building, the ability to produce high-quality products and to deliver on client service and satisfaction.
Rubidge was born in GraaffReinet, where as a youngster he had access to a dam.
“I started by building boards for water sports and built my first boat as a youngster.
“I later built a boat in my parent’s garage while I was studying at the former University of Port Elizabeth.
“Indigo Boats was established in 2008 and we have been going solidly since then,” enthused Rubidge.
Indigo Boats has grown to support a staff compliment of 17 people.
“Our employees have been sourced from the northern areas and the nearby Walmer township. About 30% are skilled but most new workers get trained in-house and develop their skills here,” he said.
Rubidge said the factory’s current production capacity was between four to five vessels per month.
“We manufacture 95% monohull configuration at the moment and will be producing a double hull [catamaran] range early in 2017.
“We are also an authorised Yamaha dealer so 99% of our boats are configured with outboard motors, inboard motors require deep waters for optimum operation and are better suited to lakes as opposed to our shallow rivers and estuaries,” he said.
Rubidge said his boat designs had multi-purpose recreational functions.
“The majority of the range provide a craft ideal for fishing and water sports, with the options of single or double installations.
“We have a 6.5m hull designed with leisure skiing as its main target. We also manufacture trailers and accessories, while seats, covers and sun canopies are produced elsewhere,” he said, adding that Indigo’s craft were designed as inland and sea-going vessels.
“All of our designs to date are innovated from scratch. We build two boats for a Knysna company of which the rights don’t belong to us,” explained Rubidge, commenting that most of the company’s products were sold at the coast.
The average prices ranged from R50 000 to R600 000, with most sales averaging at about R300 000, Rubidge said.
“The smaller boat market [3m to 9m length] make up a small portion of total sales in South Africa. It is certainly a multi-million rand industry with the large portion of revenue derived from yachts.”
With big expansion plans ahead, Indigo Boats will be increasing it’s operation by between 30% and 40% next year and is also in the process of establishing an agency in Australia towards exporting its craft there.