You’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat! Cambodia’s Bespoke Boat Builders

You know what B.O.A.T stands for, right? Bring Out Another Thousand. Normally our CNE primates wouldn’t go anywhere near open water, Chief Monkey cheated to get his 10 m swimming badge in lower primary. Yet, the seafaring simians known as J-Dog and Jackie Spam, took a trip out on a beach stormin’ ‘aloominum’ sea-moto, and had a jolly roger of a swell time.

Kampot: After 18 years of mastering his art in Thailand, Geoff Reid brought his skills to Kampot 2 years ago.

And what an incredible art it is!

Geoff is a boat builder and owns Coastal Boats Cambodia. He manufactures aluminum plate boats for use as ferries, water taxis, dive boats, or just plain recreational usage. He and his team of welders and fabricators create high quality boats measuring anywhere from 4.8 to 16 meters in length.

These creations are lightweight, but extremely durable and go on both the river and ocean. (Full disclosure, the writer has been on both in one of these boats. It was all that was advertised). With the usage of certified, marine grade, aluminum, maintenance is minimal and the boats are very light and nimble, wonderful for a day of cruising or going for it and really getting wind in your hair.

The canopy is of very good quality and craftsmanship and also made onsite from high quality fabrics, imported from Europe. The Coastal Boats Cambodia workshop rests right upon the river for easy access for test runs or just getting out on the water for a day. The one that we took out was a landing craft styled vessel (as shown below).

This created an easy access to board and, amazingly, simple beach access as you merely beached, dropped the front down and walked down the ramp and onto the sand (*can’t help of feeling D-Day vibes- Chief Monkey). The kids loved it.

The one that we took out had twin Suzuki 115hp engines and the boat really moved over the water effortlessly and with much less chop than I expected. I was told (and I absolutely believe it) that the 8 meter craft could do 35 knots with a load of 1000kg AND four adults aboard. The interior sports very nicely finished cedar planking, which is also cut, shaped, and installed onsite and can (from my eye) seat at least 12 people.

There is your typical command tower for the captain, fish finder, depth gauge, and (as a particular bonus) the throttle is dual, so you can do cookies in the water. Just put one in forward and the other in reverse. Circle as long as you want.

All in all, these are great, affordable crafts that are perfect for river cruising and inland ocean runs. We all had a great time, you will too. For more information and to contact Geoff, which you certainly should, go to Alloy Boats Cambodia – Professional boat building in Cambodia.

The one we went out on has already been purchased by Paradise on Koh Rong-Samleaom.

*If you have a business, or want to promote one on CNE during the corona crisis- contact us through social media or email [email protected]