Born in 1954 in Putaruru, South Waikato, Tongs’ first boating experience was in the family’s 3.6m clinker dinghy with its Seagull outboard. A couple of years later, he watched his father Vern, a timber mill worker, build a John Spencer-designed 4.2m Rocket runabout, which the family used for trout fishing.
“The old man was a good handyman and could pretty much build anything.”
Inheriting the same genes, Tongs topped his woodwork class aged 15. Boatbuilding seemed a natural fit, so in 1970, he asked Boatbuilders Tauranga for an apprenticeship.
“I wrote them a letter but never got a response, so the old man and I jumped in the car and cold-called them.”
The face-to-face approach worked, and owner Mike Watson offered Tongs an apprenticeship. Unfortunately, Tauranga Boatbuilders closed its doors…
