An Arbroath company has reflected on its evolution from boat building to restoration experts as it celebrates its 50th anniversary this week.
When Mackay Boat Builders was formed in 1967 by Bob Mackay, Clem Jolly and Jean Gerrard it specialised in building wooden boats at its yard beside Arbroath Harbour.
The first two apprentices taken on that year – Duncan Crosbie and Harry Simpson – would later take over the business in 1990.
Harry recalled how labour intensive it was to make a boat at a time when most things were done by hand.
He said: “When we started we had no vans. We actually carried materials about on pushbikes. There were no cranes or forklifts so we unloaded the wood and steel by hand.
“To get the beams onto the vessel we used the block and tackle system – pulling on a rope like you were hoisting sails.
“There were 40 people working at the yard at one time and we were usually building one or two boats a year, up to 75ft long.
“Arbroath had a large fishing fleet at the time but we built boats for all over. It was all wood when we started, then we worked with steel as well.
“It was very hard work. I remember the hard winters and the days I’d come home with my fingers bleeding from the frost.”
The business would have been closed had Harry and Duncan not purchased it in 1990.
After they took over, Mackays diversified into other fields, moving away from solely building boats to taking on more repair and restoration work.
The company has worked on a major internal and external refit to RRS Discovery, a restoration to the Reaper, based at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther and the North Carr lightship among countless others.
“There are very few people able to do the work that we are doing to wooden vessels,” Harry continued.
“We are training up people regularly to keep the skills alive. Boatbuilding is a real craft. Every boat is different. They are all different shapes and sizes. Every one has been memorable.”
The company is now run by Harry’s son Paul and his daughter Lynn Cameron, who have both been with the business for more than 25 years. Harry stepped down in 2014 and Duncan last August.
Lynn said: “There’s a lot of pride getting to 50 years old. There’s so much heritage.
“The fishing fleet has changed dramatically from mainly large wooden fishing vessels to smaller fibreglass vessels but we’ve been able to adapt.
“A very recent example of this is us starting to do blacksmith work.
“When the blacksmith J & J Stewart closed in Arbroath recently, we employed Liam Stewart, son of owner George Stewart, and so now we’ve started doing bespoke gates and railings.
“It’s fantastic to make it to 50 years and if we continue to move with the times we’ll be here for a long time to come.”
