About Us

We moved to Airlie Beach around May 2014 from Sydney. This was our semi-retirement plan for a sea change.

We started our business with 3 boats, and very quickly realised there was a great need here for self-hire and drive boat hire. Our small family business started growing at a rapid rate and we increased our fleet from 3 to 10 boats. The realisation of trailing all these boats to the boat ramp back every day became a daunting and almost impossible scenario. So we expanded again and took on a marina berth at Coral Sea Marina – Resort.

We originally started our business as part of a national franchise (Boab Boat Hire), but as time went on this was holding us back from growing our business; so we decided to exit the Franchise and Rebrand our boats to Airlie Boat Hire. This has given us a renewed energy and freedom to run our business for our customers in the best way possible. Customer service goes a long way and we are able to give our customers the best possible experience here in The Whitsundays under our own brand.

Our son Ryan has been instrumental and a blessing to us. He plays a vital role in our business. He is a welder by trade, and also has a huge passion for fishing and is extremely good at it. Our customers love receiving advice from Ryan on all aspects of fishing and many of our customers come back from their hires elated with their successful catches.

Deb runs the office and Bob and Ryan do all the run throughs, maintenance, and ongoing upgrades to our boats.

Since moving to Airlie Beach we have made many friends. We have met and supported many local business owners, as they have with us. Through honesty and integrity we will continue to support our local community to promote our business for many years to come.

We look forward to seeing our regular customers and meeting many new customers coming to visit our beautiful backyard we have come to call home, The Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef.

See you all soon!

Bob, Deb and Ryan