Fire at BoatCraft Pacific - Brisbane

[Wood Butcher]

Just saw on the morning news that there was a fire last night at BoatCraft Pacific. From the images it seems that there has been substantial damage to the premises.

I hope that no-one was hurt and that they are able to recover from the damage quickly!

[Fair Dink]

Was it Boatcraft Pacific, or Barrie Armstrong's Trailaway Boats, which is next door?

[Boatmik]

It was Boatcraft ... don't know if the nearby businesses were affected.

I haven't spoken to Ian (the owner) but it was substantial damage.

Michael.

[Boatmik]

Howdy,

From Ian at Boatcraft. Sounds positive


Goodmorning all,

A bit of an update.

We have recovered all (every last bit) of our accounting data and yesterday I printed out the statements. Some look a bit different, but at least we have our accounting system intact.

We have moved into the factory next door. The phones and the fax is installed and working. This factory is 1/3rd the size of our previous premises, so not sure how we will go, but at least we can get started.

First deliveries of materials have arrived. I hope to make our first batches of Purbond today or Monday. There are a couple of problems with short notice orders to some suppliers, and that might slow us a bit.

We have quite a lot of finished goods which are OK, just a little sooty. Washing almost gets them right, but we are still thinking about them.

The police have indicated that they have spoken to a person about the fire and that an arrest is imminent.
Regards
Ian Phillips

[b.o.a.t.]

Sounds very positive. You'd be amazed at the number of businesses with no disaster
recovery plan, or even a back-up of their accounts !!
cheers
AJ

[Boatmik]

More from Ian at Boatcraft


Boatcraft Pacific is back!!!! We rise, phoenix like, from the ashes.

Due to a magnificent effort by our employees and suppliers we are please to advise that nearly our full product range is again available following the disastrous arson attack on the 1st of September.

All our machinery was damaged and most of our stock was damaged or destroyed by the deliberately lit fire. Fortunately we were already renting the small factory next door, and were able to start re establishing ourselves in there immediately. Everybody involved put in 110%, repairing and rebuilding, and our suppliers tried really hard to arrange early deliveries of raw materials. Our first shipments went out just 9 working days later which is an incredible effort by our people.

The small factory is 1/3rd the size of the original factory so we have had to store many bulky items elsewhere, so if you want more than 1 or 2 sheets of plywood or any quantity of fibreglass, we will have to retrieve it from our storage. To avoid delays it will be sensible to call ahead and we will retrieve the items for you.

The (alleged) arsonist has been arrested, and is on remand, although the system is contemplating giving him bail which absolutely fills us with fear and horror.

Next, we will be looking for a new home as our now derelict one will need perhaps $300,000.00 of repairs and won't be ready for many months.

Aquacote Top Coat is the slow one. There is a critical component which comes from Germany. Our supplier is flying it in and we expect it in the middle of the month. It is needed to make a precursor compound which then has to go to Melbourne for milling and then be returned to us in Brisbane for processing into the final paint. It looks like that will be the end of October before it becomes available. Epox-E-Glue is on the way. I have paid for a replacement mixer as the one we were using is trapped in the damaged building and we won't be abl;e to retrieve it and assess its conditions until the roof is stabilized/removed.

A place for the fibreglass is also causing us a bit of concern. I am sure we will work something out very soon.

Thankyou to all our customers for your patience during this trying time. We really do appreciate your understanding.

Ian Phillips, Bruce McConkey, Scott Swindells, Geof Taylor.