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It is dairying which floated one of New Zealand's most successful boat design and manufacturing companies.

'There is no doubt that without the income and assets of our dairy farm, Diane and I would never have been able to finance the start-up of Extreme Boats,” says Glenn Shaw.

Extreme Boats, already popular in New Zealand are growing in reputation in Australia and are exported to New Caledonia and French Polynesia.

He and Diane are still dairy farmers at Thornton, near Whakatane, but today someone else milks the cows while the couple run Extreme Boats from a purpose-built factory not far down the road.

'Now Extreme Boats has far outstripped the farm in terms of turnover and value, but the beauty of dairying is that it gave us the opportunity to venture into another business,” says Glenn.

It all began when Glenn decided he wanted a boat but couldn't find anything which exactly met his needs. Being a ‘can do' kind of person (he had built his own dairy shed), and drawing on his mechanical engineering background, Glenn set about designing and building a boat in a shed on the family farm.

It turned out pretty well; and after testing the public reaction at boat shows, Glenn decided it was worth taking the next step. He employed the services of well-known designer Scott Robinson, who came up with a range of hull designs featuring the now distinctive deep-V.

'Extreme Boats have the deepest V-Hull design on the market, which has been developed based on proven hull technology. Our boats boast fine entry for high-speed head sea performance, while retaining a high chine with full shoulder for excellent sea-handling.”

By 1998 Extreme Boats was manufacturing a small number of craft each year, from a factory on the dairy farm. 'During the 2004 floods, the factory was about the only part of the farm which didn't go under water, so I was using one of our boats to pick up staff and ferry them to work,” says Glenn.

As the popularity and reputation of Extreme Boats grew, so did the need for a purpose-built, and bigger factory. In 2012, Glenn, assisted by his son Todd took a year out to build the 33 by 88 metre factory on Thornton Rd near the turn off to the Whakatane Airport. 'We had planned to get a roofing company to do the roof, but when they didn't turn up on time, we did that too.”

The building has a show room and offices, a mezzanine floor where the upholstery for the boats is produced, and a factory set out with bays; one where components are router cut from 3 mm to 8 mm sheets of high quality imported European aluminium, and others where the boats are assembled.

Glenn is the designer, creating plans for boats from 4.6 metre to 11 metres, using a high tech computer design system and his trained boat builder's 'eye”. Much of building a successful, safe boat which performs well is still instinctive, says Glenn. 'It has to look right, be in balance.” That's a skill he may have got from his grandfather Bill Dippie, who was closely associated with Bill Hamilton, developer of the famous Hamilton Jet Boats.

It's not just looks which count of course. The boats must perform well on the water and also have all the refinements modern boaties require. Extreme Boats has been the most awarded boat in New Zealand for the last five years, and the most awarded alloy boat in New Zealand for the last seven years.

Once Glenn is happy with a new design, he then begins planning the most economical and efficient way to cut the pieces from each sheet of aluminium. The final templates are fed into a machine, which automatically cuts the components – up to 115 for each boat – ready for assembly.

The flat pieces of aluminium are stacked in a cradle ready for the boat builders to work their magic – assembling, fitting, bending and folding all of the pieces together to create a new water craft. Then it's the fit-out team's turn to install the wiring, glaziers to fit windows and the upholsterers to add the squabs and other soft furnishings.

Once complete the boats go to Haddock Spray Painters in Whakatane for a high quality finish. 'It's not easy painting aluminium boats and Haddocks do an excellent job,” says Glenn.

All Extreme Boats are built to survey standards and are New Zealand Boat Building Standard Compliance Plate Certification (CPC) certified, meaning they not only meet stringent quality and safety standards but can also be used by commercial operators, such as harbour masters or commercial fishers.'We are the only aluminium boat manufacturer to do both CPC and build to survey on all hulls.It costs a lot more to meet survey standards, but it's worth the investment,” says Glenn.

Extreme Boats, already popular in New Zealand (they also feature on the ‘Big Angry Fish' TV show), are growing in reputation in Australia too with 30 per cent of exports being shipped to that market. The boats are also exported to New Caledonia and French Polynesia; and Glenn has plans to expand into Europe too.

The factory, with its staff of 30, has orders for new boats of all sizes until May next year –and already Glenn is talking of expanding the factory, and maybe, at some time in the future, building launches.

They may not be milking cows, but Diane and Glenn haven't turned their backs on farming. 'Farming is in our blood. We love the land and lifestyle.”