Gig Harbor Boat Works: Proud Builder of Small Craft

From Garage to Big Production Shop, “Tradition Meets Innovation”

Like many of us, Dave Robertson started building wooden boats as a kid, just for fun and as a way to get on the water. As an adult he worked a variety of regular jobs—his longest stint being at a steel mill in Seattle. By the 1970’s he was still building boats in a garage, but he tried something new: Making plugs, then molds, and then some fiberglass lapstrake rowing-sailing dinghies, modeled after classic pulling boats of the early 1900’s.

The boats looked great, performed well…and before long a few friends and neighbors asked if Dave might consider selling one of the skiffs.

Encouraged, Dave knew there was one sure way to see if he was a starry-eyed dreamer…or if he might have the kernal of a business. And that make-it-or-break-it test was to rent a 10’ x 10’ booth at the upcoming Seattle Boat Show, a week-long event dominated by big-boat manufacturers.

So, in January 1986, armed with one small dinghy and some handouts, Dave set up his booth in the nosebleed section of the old Kingdome. With fingers crossed, the show opened and seven days later Dave drove home to Gig Harbor with a thick wad of cash deposits, checks and firm orders to build TWO DOZEN boats for eager customers.

He had a business, after all, and he just had to figure out how to build that many boats to the quality standard of his first boats…and against a production deadline.