SPOTLIGHT
BOATBUILDER MELVIN COTTREAU
STEPS OUT OF THE SHOP TO FOLLOW HIS PASSION
Melvin Cottreau is the owner of Scotia Marine Consultants Ltd . in Wedgeport , Nova Scotia , where he started the business in 1994 . His father was a boat builder in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s , but he closed his business while Melvin was still in school . Finishing high school , Melvin decided to take a trade in Halifax , and when he returned home , he found that his father had been approached by the Murphy family to help them start a boat shop .
Melvin recalls , “ My father said that if I would start out with the Murphys , he would work with them and teach me the ins and outs of the business . They were businessmen , but they weren ’ t builders . My father stayed only about seven or eight months , but I kept operating it for the Murphys until I bought them out in 1978 , and named it M . Cottreau Boat Shop Ltd .”.
Melvin operated the boat shop until 1984 , building 45-foot draggers of wooden construction . Gradually , the industry was changing to fiberglass boatbuilding , but Melvin stayed in wood construction longer than most boatbuilders did . When the demand for wooden boats came to an end , and lacking a reputation for fiberglass boatbuilding , Melvin joined with a partner and formed a company called C . F . Marine Limited .
“ We operated under that name from about 1984 until we changed to Wedgeport Boats in the early 1990s ,” Melvin explains . “ We were 50 / 50 partners , but I was the president of that company , only because somebody had to be president . My partner was in fiberglass prior to this while I was building wooden boats . He didn ’ t know about boat construction , and I didn ’ t know about fiberglass , so between the two of us , we put together a fiberglass boat building shop .”
In 1994 , Melvin sold his 50 % share to his partner and started Scotia Marine Consultants Ltd . His primary job was the same as what he does now , measuring ships ’ tonnage for Transport Canada . He has done many other jobs throughout his years at Scotia Marine Consultants . For 20 years , he worked with insurance claims in the marine industry as well as appraisals and surveys for underwriters , any of which he would drop immediately when he received a call from Transport Canada .
At age 74 , Melvin now works part-time , and only does the job of tonnage measurer because he loves that job . “ Tonnage has nothing to do with what everyone thinks .”
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