Andy McCutcheon100 Years of Wooden Glory - Pegiva
September 7th 2007 00:11
Pegiva Classic
Pegiva
Pegiva, located on the Gold Coast of Australia is perhaps one of the most progressive builders of classically inspired boats. Although the unique hull shape of the Pegiva range is an original design, there are elements of the boat that lend itself to the chic styling of its European predecessors and that is why more and more of these vessels that are built in Australia, find themselves in the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
Gerald Whylie, owner and founder of Pegiva admits he has been in and amongst boats all his life. He started as a young lad of 19 and was an aspiring boat builder. He states that, “earlier memories of vacationing with his grandmother led in part to his love of fishing, boating and being on the water in a 16’ clinker dinghy and this love of building boats would stay with him throughout his entire life.
The first boat Gerry ever built was a small carvel strip boat that he re-planked and then completed it by fitting out the superstructure. By 1962, Gerry went to Sydney to work for Peter Bracken, one of Australia’s most respected boat builders during that time and began with the fit-out of a 34’ cruiser.
Peter Bracken, not unlike Norman Wright & Sons to the north, were heavily involved in building commercial fishing boats, harbour patrol vessels for the Police and commercial ferries and Gerry gained invaluable experience while in his employ. Of the Police vessels that were built by Brackens boat yard in the 1960’s, six of them still remain to this day and are located locally on the Gold Coast, a testament to the superior workmanship involved in the construction of wooden boats.
Gerry carried that pride of workmanship throughout his lifetime with boat construction and in 2000 after a brief go at retirement, decided that he wasn’t quite finished with boats and began the inner workings of Pegiva. By now their son Peter had become involved in the business and what started out as a boutique family business has now turned into an international boat building company.
Both Gerry and Peter eat, sleep and live boats and in the early design phase of establishing the unique Pegiva hull shape, Gerry was unsatisfied with architectural concepts and ended up creating a half mould hull shape by shaping a block of wood and then took it to a marine architect to develop full sized lines and offsets by cutting the block at different station points to create the now legendary hull shape into a working 3D model and from there a full working prototype.
The original Pegiva’s were 20’6” long and were double diagonal planked with Oregon stringers, a 4mm hull skin and Brazilian mahogany fit out. Their deep V hulls, gently sloping, barrel-back aft sections with plenty of tumblehome made for extremely stylish and sexy boats and with the addition of chromed accent pieces, retro gauges and sweeping windscreens they looked fast even when standing still.
In recent times, Pegiva has also come out with a moulded fibreglass model that has taken the shape from its predecessors but is finished in brightly hued interiors, timber inlays and a unique metallic painted finish that give it an amazing retro quality without some of the inherent maintenance issues involved in the upkeep and maintenance of the timber versions.
While Gerry admits there will always be a timber version of the Pegiva available, creation of the “Retro Sun” model has opened up new markets both domestically and overseas with the resurgence of classic boats being felt as a worldwide phenomenon.
Singer Billy Joel and his next door neighbour have recently purchased Pegiva Retro Sun's and are scheduled for delivery to their homes in Miami Florida ahead of the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show.
Andy McCutcheon, 100 Years of Wooden Glory. Copyright 2006
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