Eppalock

In the mid-1960s, a new man-made lake was formed in the Axedale area, around 20 kms from the existing A & K Nankervis motors workshop in Spring Gully. The twins at the time saw the newly formed lake as a potential expansion of their already growing name in the boating industry. They constructed a new workshop right on the pristine Lake Eppalock shoreline and set their sights on promoting boating as a leisure activity for Central Victorian families. 

Once the business was established, A & K Nankervis realised that their passion for boats had become an obsession and soon set about designing their own distinct boat range. The Nankervis signature range of boats became popular with young families and enthusiasts, as the boats were quickly found all over Australian waterways. A new generation of Nankervis’ soon discovered their interest in the boating business and started working in their father’s workshop, understanding the tools of the trade and gathering a strong interest in performance engines.

The Tradition Continues

Tiger Cub was handed down to Leo’s son Bradley as the older generation retired from the racing scene. The boat raced competitively as Bradley actively travelled throughout each season to campaign the boat under the new Class title of 1.6 Litre Ozlite Hydroplane. Bradley raced the boat for nearly ten years, with Leo’s younger son Rowan developing a passion for the sport and finding himself also racing Tiger Cub. In later years, Tiger Cub has been retired from racing as Leo’s eldest son Bradley has begun racing his own Ozlite Hydroplane, which has been engineered by himself with the help of Leo.

The boat, named “Little Tiger”, has now raced three seasons and is well on track to be a highly competitive boat amongst the new style hydroplanes being used in the class. With Bradley racing the new hydroplane, Rowan has recently rebuilt an Everingham displacement to compete in the registered 4.2 Litre Displacement racing class. The new boat is appropriately named “Wild and Free 253” and has only completed one race meeting, where it ran successfully at the family’s home course on Lake Eppalock. The family will continue to race power boats in many classes over the coming years.

Present Day

In later years, when Allan and Keith retired, the business was handed down to Allan’s son Leo. Leo has worked in the industry alongside his father Allan for 50 years and has adopted the Nankervis passion for motoring excellence in his work ethic. Leo’s passion for performance engines has seen him work on various high-performance machines from street cars, tractor pullers, salt lake cars and circuit race boats. More recently, he focused on maintaining water ski racing boats. Leo’s hard work has been sustained by seeing his engines and components successfully competing in some of Australia’s premier water ski events. Leo’s sons Bradley and Rowan now work full time in the business, alongside our staff members.