The Australian dream for many is to build a house, but for Ultima resident Jeff Leverett his dream has always been to build a boat.
Comprised of two decks, the 19 metre long paddle boat took Mr Leverett 10 years to build from scratch.
He said the dream of building a boat was always something he had wanted to do since he was a teenager.
“When I was 17, I built a paddle boat out of balsa wood, but it didn’t work,” Mr Leverett said.
“All these years later I still had this dream to make it.”
Mr Leverett said he had done a lot of engineering work on boats in Mildura and Echuca which helped him to stay motivated.
“That kept me interested in achieving the dream,” he said.
“There’s a bloke in Mildura called Andrew Cook who helped restore the Gem in Swan Hill.
“I started helping out on the Gem and Andrew helped me design the bottom of my boat.
“It’s just a very basic design but it works.”
Mr Leverett has been a fencing contractor for 30 years but has also been involved with steam boat engineering since 1990.
He started building the boat in Ultima, but shifted it to Tyntynder Flats where it was finished.
“Everyone around Ultima thought I was crazy, but there are other people around who have built boats,” he said.
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (February 24).
