Marine Fabricator May/June 2022 - 19

DIVING IN
GREG KEELER TURNS A HARBORSIDE WHIM INTO
A HIGH-END MARINE SHOP
by Michelle Miron
I
Greg Keeler, Oyster Creek
Canvas Co., was working
for a dive company 21
years ago when he was
offered a $300 a month
rental space. He says he
had no idea what to do
with the space, " but then
I acquired an antique
sewing machine and
started learning to use
it. " Photo: Steve JohnstonExposureLeak
f
a college friend hadn't had extra
space in a harborside building
he was renting in downtown
Bellingham, Greg Keeler may
have never started up Bellingham,
Wash.-based marine canvas company
Oyster Creek Canvas Co.
After earning a degree in environmental
policy and assessment, the lifelong
boating enthusiast had spent several
years in a related desk job. When the
$300/month rental space was offered to
him, however, he had been laid off and
was happily working in diving and boat
maintenance, with no particular plans
to become an entrepreneur.
" I was working for my friend's little
dive company raising sunken boats, doing
underwater salvage, cleaning boats and
zincing boats, " remembers Keeler, now
51. " It was supposed to be an interim
thing before I got back to a real job, a cubicle
and an Amex card like I had before.
" I didn't even know what I was going
to do with this new space I rented, but
then I acquired an old antique sewing
machine and started learning to use it. "
Studying craft to learn the craft
That was 21 years ago, and back then
Keeler had no experience in marine fabric
construction. But he did have a couple decades
of experience boating the San Juan
Islands area-his idea of " one of the most
beautiful boating places in the world. "
Taking a leap of faith (but keeping
his diving/maintenance job to pay
the bills), he optimized small loans
and gradually taught himself enough
sewing and production skills to make
his business viable. Initially, maintaining
cash fl ow was his greatest problem.
" The prices people paid for my work
back then probably refl ected the quality
of the work, " he remembers. " It didn't
look perfect, but it worked. I fl ew by the
seat of my pants. "
The majority of his business then-
and still today-has come via word of
mouth from boating club members and
other tradespeople around the wharf.
" Somebody sees something and asks,
'Who made that enclosure?' and that's
our marketing-our product and customer
testimonials. We've spent nothing on
advertising other than small brochures. "
Sewing up profi ts,
product by product
Through the years, Keeler has been able
to expand his one-man, one-machine
shop to a 15-machine operation employing
fi ve full-timers and one part-timer.
Projects have accordingly become larger
and more complex, spanning a wide
variety of custom-made boat coverings.
" Sometimes we say we can do a job;
then we end up having to buy tools to
do it, even if it's a $10,000 machine, "
he explains.
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Marine Fabricator May/June 2022

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