Victorian fire authority enlists Stabicraft

The latest weapon in the fire fighting arsenal for Victoria’s Country Fire Authority’s Eildon Brigade is a New Zealand-made trailerable fire response vessel, the Stabicraft 859 Supercab.

The boat will support fire-fighting operations, transporting fire fighters across the popular Lake Eildon tourist spot, as well as doubling as a rescue vessel. 

As well as having the ability to board or unload people rapidly via a folding bow ramp, it has full fire-fighting capabilities: a through-hull water pick-up system carts water to a roof-mounted remote-controlled monitor.

The order is the latest in a long line of wins which sees Stabicraft boats operating as Police patrol boats, Customs vessels and on Search and Rescue duties around Australia.

Twenty two years ago Stabicraft Marine built its first rigid hull aluminium pontoon boat, a 3.5m dinghy for the fishing, diving and commercial market. The positive buoyancy boats have come a long way, although their inherent safety and stability properties are the backbone of the now-international business for both commercial and recreational markets. 

Stabicraft’s reputation of producing virtually unsinkable boats played a large part in winning the Victorian tender as well as making Stabicraft the boat of choice for many emergency response and surveillance operations around Australia.

The boats are tested in some of the world’s most trying conditions; head out the back door of the Invercargill factory and you’re right in the waters of the Roaring Forties. 

CEO Paul Adams says the company’s export strategy has emerged as a combination of serendipity and hard work. 

“We were thrilled with our first export order, to British Columbia, Canada just a year after we started. We’ve concentrated on Australia initially, but now we’re working on building relationships in the US and the fact that we adopted and worked to the US Coast Guard approved safety standard almost from the outset is of considerable help.”

Stabicraft Marine made its first Australian sale in 1994, encouraged by an Invercargill man returning to his home town and enthusiastically declaring his intention to be the company’s first distributor in Australia. 

The simplified dealer-direct distribution model works well for the company, which now has 14 distributors in Australia, 16 in New Zealand, three in the US and one in Canada and most recently, in New Caledonia.

Stabicraft boats pop up in the most unexpected places, recovering crocodiles in the Northern Territory of Australia, helping the Free Willy Keiko Foundation, in the Californian research facility of the Jean-Michel Cousteau Oceanographic Institute, providing water-borne ambulance services at the Americas Cup series on the Auckland Harbour and carrying out Search and Rescue duties on rivers, lakes and seas in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
 
Around 600 boats a year emerge from the Invercargill factory, where staff includes a dedicated design team committed to tweaking and fine tuning the innovation to remain several steps ahead of the competition.