SMUGGLER BOATS: 40 YEARS OF BOATBUILDING THE PRINGLE WAY
In 2026, David Pringle celebrates 40 years since beginning his own boatbuilding business. From yachts and custom launches to deep-vee trailer boats, RIBs, amphibious craft and superyacht tenders, the journey has been one of steady evolution. Today, Smuggler Marine is firmly established as one of New Zealand’s most distinctive family-owned boatbuilders – and Dave Pringle remains at the heart of it.
New Zealand has always punched above its weight in boatbuilding. Perhaps it is the coastline, our unpredictable weather, or simply the Kiwi expectation that a boat should do more than look good at the marina. Whatever the reason, the country has produced generations of boatbuilders who understand that seaworthiness and practicality have to come first.
David “Dave” Pringle belongs firmly in that tradition.
In 2026, Dave Pringle marks 40 years since starting his own boatbuilding business in 1986, beginning a career that would ultimately evolve into today’s Smuggler Marine.
Dave had already been immersed in boatbuilding from a young age. He started building boats at 15 and later served his apprenticeship with the respected Salthouse Brothers operation at Greenhithe in Auckland. Sailing, fishing, diving, and boating were not simply professional interests; they became part of the experience he brought to the boats he built.
When he struck out on his own in 1986, the business was primarily focused on yachts. Among the boats constructed during those early years were examples of well-known New Zealand designs such as the Ross 930 and Elliott 1050. The company would also build custom launches and larger vessels, giving Pringle experience across a remarkably broad spectrum of construction styles and boat types.
It was an era when New Zealand boatbuilding was intensely hands-on. Builders were expected to understand every element of a boat rather than concentrate on one production process. That background proved valuable as Dave Pringle’s attention increasingly shifted toward powerboats.
The arrival of Smuggler
The major turning point came in 2004.
Dave had long respected the Smuggler hull’s performance, a name with a history in the New Zealand boating scene. The original Smuggler designs were known particularly for their deep-vee configuration and rough-water ability.
Dave and his wife, Pauline, acquired the Smuggler moulds and shifted the company’s direction toward producing powerboats. The first of the new generation was the Smuggler Stealth 695 Hardtop, incorporating the distinctive 27-degree deep-vee Smuggler hull.
It was more than a new model. It represented the beginning of the Smuggler Marine business as New Zealand boat owners know it today.
For Dave, performance and balance have always been central to boat design. A hull needs to work in real conditions, not simply produce impressive numbers on a calm-water speed run.
That philosophy fitted the New Zealand market particularly well. Kiwi boat owners routinely expect one boat to handle fishing, family cruising, diving, towing water toys and offshore trips, often in conditions that change quickly.
The deep-vee Smuggler hull became a cornerstone of the brand.
Rather than remaining static, however, Pringle continued developing the concept. In 2007, Smuggler added custom-fitted fibreglass pontoons to the Stealth range to increase stability. Two years later, the company purchased the established Bonito Boats moulds, expanding the range further.
At the same time, another important part of the Smuggler story was developing: RIBs.
From trailer boats to RIBs
The Smuggler Strata range took the company’s deep-vee performance thinking in a different direction.
The early six-metre Strata RIBs were designed by respected New Zealand designer Scott Robson, while Dave subsequently designed other models within the range. Over time, Strata RIBs grew from relatively conventional recreational boats into sophisticated craft, including centre consoles, cabin boats, and specialised tenders.
That development also demonstrated one of Smuggler’s enduring characteristics.
Despite becoming a recognised production brand, the company never entirely abandoned its custom boatbuilding roots.
Owners could arrive with a particular requirement and work through it with the people actually building the boat. Layouts, seating, consoles, storage and equipment could be adapted to suit an owner’s style of boating.
This approach has increasingly differentiated smaller New Zealand manufacturers from high-volume imported boats.
Then came another major step.
Going amphibious
In 2012, Smuggler introduced amphibious technology to its Strata RIB range.
For many New Zealand coastal properties, launching a conventional trailer boat is inconvenient or impossible. An amphibious boat changes that equation completely, allowing the boat to travel across the beach under its own power before transitioning into the water.
Smuggler embraced the concept early and developed it into a significant part of the business.
Today, using the New Zealand-developed Anura amphibious system, the company has produced amphibious craft for recreational owners, as well as specialised commercial and export applications. Smuggler has built more than 140 amphibious boats, including craft destined for overseas markets and superyacht tender roles.
That international work is significant. Superyacht tenders operate in a demanding environment. They need to perform well, look appropriate alongside some of the world’s finest yachts and, often, fit within extremely specific dimensional restrictions.
For a relatively small Auckland manufacturer to compete in that arena says plenty about how far the business has come from Dave’s early yacht-building years. Yet the company remains distinctly New Zealand.
A family business
The Smuggler story is as much about family as it is boats. Pauline Pringle has played an important role in developing the company alongside Dave. Coming from a sailing family herself, she combines boating knowledge with the organisational and customer-focused side of the business.
Their son Logan Pringle represents the next generation. A builder by trade and a New Zealand Thundercat champion, Logan has become increasingly involved in technical development and new-model design and today serves as Smuggler Marine’s general manager. The company describes him as being well positioned to eventually take over when Dave decides the time has come to retire. That succession matters.
Forty years is a long time in any manufacturing business, and considerably longer in the notoriously cyclical marine industry. Boatbuilding businesses have had to navigate recessions, changing construction techniques, new engine technologies, shifting customer expectations, and major developments in electronics.
Smuggler has survived by evolving without losing sight of what made its boats successful in the first place.
Forty years and still building
Today Smuggler Marine operates from Henderson in West Auckland, producing high-performance RIBs, amphibious boats and bespoke craft, including superyacht tenders.
The boats are considerably more sophisticated than those of 1986. Modern navigation displays, digitally controlled outboards, advanced composites, amphibious drive systems and highly integrated electrical installations would have seemed extraordinary when Dave began building under his own name.
But some things have not changed.
A boat still has to run properly.
It has to feel balanced.
It has to inspire confidence when the weather deteriorates.
And it has to suit the person who owns it.
Those principles have followed Dave Pringle from yachts to launches, from the first reborn Smuggler Stealth 695 to today’s RIBs and amphibious craft. The journey also has something distinctly Kiwi about it. Smuggler has not grown by trying to become a huge international production line. Instead, it has built its reputation one boat and one owner at a time, combining production efficiency with the willingness to customise and innovate.
And after four decades, Dave still has the perspective of someone who is not only a boatbuilder but also a sailor, fisherman, diver and lifelong boatie.
That may ultimately be the most important part of the Smuggler story.
The boats have changed enormously since David Pringle began building under his own name in 1986. The market has changed. Technology has changed. The Smuggler range has expanded far beyond what anyone could have imagined when the first Stealth 695 appeared in 2004.
But the underlying objective remains remarkably straightforward:
Build boats that work on the water.
Forty years after David Pringle Boatbuilders began, that philosophy still defines Smuggler Marine and gives the next generation of the Pringle family a strong foundation to carry the name forward.
