Streaker Boats celebrates 40 years

Prominent Melbourne-based fibreglass boat manufacturer and marine retailer, Streaker Boats, is celebrating 40 years in the industry this year.

Brothers Leon and Paul Savage successfully managed to turn their passion for boating, into a long-standing, dynamic marine business success story.

In 1973, Leon Savage had completed his five-year apprenticeship as a boat builder and together with his brother Paul, started L&P Savage Brothers Marine.

"Our first model was the V14 Streaker," Leon recalled. "This was built in a factory in Ringwood, and was soon followed by the V17 Streaker. We had a dealer network, and couldn't keep up with demand for these popular models"

In the early days of their business, the Savage brothers were active powerboat racing competitors. They travelled the country, circuit racing and offshore racing, winning numerous state titles in the process. At one time, the Savage brothers were a part of the Mercury Racing Team. Business started to demand more time, and a passion for fishing evolved and began to dominate their time on the water.

"As we got a bit older and wiser, we picked the market as swinging heavily towards fishing", Leon said. "We were one of the first to pick the trend and we swung all of our resources into developing a complete range of Streaker fishing boats."

Streaker Boats has enjoyed many landmark events. In 1990, the national network of dealers was wound down with all Streaker boats produced sold from their own Bayswater (Melbourne) retail outlet. The retail operation grew steadily and in 1993 they were appointed a Yamaha dealer. Then came their appointment as a Quintrex dealer in 2005, which was followed up with their award as the Australian Quintrex Dealer of the Year, 2010 – 2011.

"The highlight of our 40 years in the boat business has clearly been the opening of our retail showroom in 1999," Paul Savage said.

"We have never set out to be the biggest dealer in town, but we have continually strived to deliver the best customer service in the industry. We've borrowed a lot from the automotive industry and we believe that our customers are treated very fairly and with great respect."

Today, the Streaker Boats retail arm continues a highly professional and well run business unit. The company not only sells the Streaker brand of boats, but is also the authorised agent for Quintrex aluminium boats and Tigé fibreglass inboard wake/ surf boats.

"We're happily celebrating our forty year milestone and share our achievement with the market," Leon said. "We're all very proud of our success in this close knit family business," said Paul.

Streaker Boats is a leading Melbourne marine retailer, being authorised dealers for Quintrex, Streaker, Tigé Ski Boats and Yamaha outboards.