The company foundation was laid in 1983 when Lloyd Stevenson constructed a Davidson 40 fast cruising yacht (Teddy Bear) for an American client. This early lead into the international market helped establish New Zealand's export credentials and was delivered just one year after Lloyd completed his boatbuilding apprenticeship.

Teddy Bear demonstrated Lloyd's solid, dependable work ethic, methodical approach to adopting new technology and inherent drive to achieve excellence, a cost and quality effective combination that led to many more orders. Five sailing yachts and two powered cruisers between 10.7m (35ft) and 12.8m (42ft) followed in quick succession and an unbroken run of custom vessels extended until 1992.

The global downturn in the late eighties tightened discretionary spending and construction of new vessels between 10 and 30 metres slowed in New Zealand between 1989 and 1995. Lloyd took the opportunity to explore the trailer boat market by first establishing Kit Boats, then Tournament Boats in partnership with Craig Loomes. Designed by Craig Loomes, the Tournament 7 and Tournament 8 remain highly respected sport fishing craft, however, the joint venture was discontinued because of insufficient volume to sustain the extreme limits ethos and complex detailing that went into these craft.

Craig Loomes went on to design and build the innovative 25m wave piercer, Ultimate Lady, and Lloyd Stevenson Boatbuilders was co-opted to craft a portion of the interior cabinet work. Ultimate Lady was awarded a coveted International Super yacht Society Award in 1998 (see www.cld.co.nz).

Other work streams included contract moulding yacht hulls (13m), building plugs and moulds for a market leading production boat manufacturer, major refits on two significant Auckland yachts (15.2m & 19.2m) and supplying interior cabinets to an offshore corporation exporting fast catamaran motor yachts from New Zealand.

The refit and contract work enable the company to maintain its core staff, skill base and 1,000 sq metre factory throughout the quiet period, and the nature of the work reinforced our culture of producing high-quality outputs at cost-effective rates. With a nucleus of highly skilled staff and tight quality controls in place, the company was well positioned to capitalise on the economic upswing which saw the Brett Bakewell-White designed 12.5m IMS cruiser/racer, Time-to-Burn, launched in 1995.