Assassin aluminium boats were first manufactured in 1996. The idea of a new large beam all plate aluminium boat first came to Greg Collett that year after Errol Nicholson our long term manufacturer of Reefa aluminium boats started talking about “hanging up the boots” as he was getting tired of boat building, plus we were looking at building larger boats which were too hard for a one man operation. Greg spoke to Rob Clayton and Miltron Rear who were the original manufacturers of Razorline boats and the concept of a more basic, but extremely good value aluminium boat was born, by building boats 2-3 at a time to keep costs down.

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The naming process was much harder, with many a late night and many beers with a few mates throwing around various names, eventually settling on Assassin craft. Our very first built 6 metre boat arrived at Sportsmarine on 10/12/1996 and another on the 18/12/1996. Two more arrived early February 1997 and we were off and running. Sales were brisk and as fast as we received them, fitted engines, electronics and listed them for sale they were being sold.

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In the late 1990's a new concept to further enhance the value of buying a new Assassin was born... the idea of a true turn key package was created. We wanted to offer a boat with a dash full of gauges, with a sounder, a GPS, a radio and lights. The first fully dressed up boats were displayed at the Fremantle passenger terminal boat show, the popularity of the boats grew and we were set to build 12 customer ordered boats.

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From December 1996 to June 1999 we had built 53 of the first hull shape Assassins in sizes 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 & 7.0 metres. In June 1999 the first mark 2 hull was created. This involved a few changes to hull shape and the chines, also new decals were created at this time.

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By January 2000 we had built a total of 64 Assassins. In early 2001 the boys at Razorline were splitting up and Greg was wondering why not bring manufacturing of the boats to Bunbury. So after discussions with Milton Rear, we set up a shed opposite Sportsmarine to manufacture our boats in. At this time Greg was also keen for a new hull shape so we had Dave Jackman a perth designer make up new patterns to our designs and off we went and started building boats in Bunbury. Our very first locally built boat was a 6.0 metre centre console. Milton trained up 2 local welders to fabricate boats.

 

Our first big challenge after finishing a boat was to get it painted locally, so we found a painter, built a paint booth and we could then build and paint in the same shed. At this time windows had to have timber patterns made, sent to Perth for manufacturing and then be installed in Bunbury. Boats were built in Bunbury for approx 5 years, then it was again negotiated to build in Perth again. This came about for a few reasons, but mainly due to double handling with windscreens... windscreens on larger boats are one offs and any error in templates means they wouldn’t fit, so after much consideration, the we decided to manufacture the boats in Perth again.

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So in 2006 Assassin manufacturing returned to Perth under the careful eye of our mate Ian Payne. All boats are built by Ian Payne since then...interesting he was just an apprentice originally back at Razorline, so he knew our boats well having built plenty in the past. In 2007 Greg was keen for a radical new hull shape.. after many discussions with a new designer, the all new Assassin “Dhufish” series of 20 degree deep vee, high swept up bow boats were introduced along with all new “hook” design custom striping. All boats grew by 100mm in length. These new hulls rode better and were more stable at rest than any previous models. At the 2007 boat show in Perth we released the all new look boats and received glowing comments. We begun building a lot more larger models with complex options, models such as the 660, 710 and 760 hardtops. These are the same hulls we build today.

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We have built boats with full aluminium hardtops to the rear, with inbuilt stoves, inbuilt fridges, sinks, iceboxes. Customising has become more of the norm now than basic all in boats we started supplying in 1996. The core strength of Assassin boats is evident, we see the original built boats from 1996 still being used today by happy owners, and we see boats being sold now for more than they sold for brand new 20 years ago. Assassin boats are proudly built in Western Australia and are a well sought after boat.