The news of Brian Edward Collings' sudden passing rippled through New Zealand's boating world this week, leaving a gap that will not easily be filled. Co-Director of AMF Boats and founder of Rivercity Marine, Brian was recognised by those who knew him and those who simply admired his work as something rarer than a successful businessman. He was a craftsman in the fullest meaning of the word, and his quiet determination helped shape one of this country's most respected names in marine manufacturing.
Whanganui was where it all began. Brian grew up on the banks of the Whanganui River, a boy with a paddle, a fishing line, and a push bike he would use to tow a kayak to wherever the river beckoned next. That early relationship with the water never left him. His working life started far from the boatyard, first as an electrician and later as an industrial sewing-machine serviceman, but boats would eventually claim him entirely.
In 1981, Brian established Rivercity Marine in Putiki, building a business around selling and servicing boats and outboards. The competitive pressures of the 1980s soon made clear that survival would require more than servicing what others built. He needed a brand strong enough to pull buyers in from well beyond Whanganui. That realisation brought him into partnership with Paul Sharratt, a local boatbuilder who had already founded the AMF Boat Company in Tauranga.
The partnership took on a personal dimension when Sharratt issued a friendly challenge, telling Brian to put his own money where his mouth was. Brian responded by commissioning a design built entirely to his own specifications, and from that came the AMF Pro Sport range. The market embraced it immediately. By 1995, Brian was manufacturing AMF boats out of his Whanganui factory and selling them across New Zealand and into Australia.
The business continued to grow, and in October 2007 Brian purchased AMF Boat Company outright with a clear ambition to expand the brand further. Working alongside Sharratt, he channelled energy into research and innovation, overseeing a period in which more than 300 AMF boats were launched. These vessels built a reputation around three qualities above all others: strength, safety, and seakeeping. In one standout year, a five-person team produced 44 boats, an extraordinary output for a regional workshop by any measure.
Among the milestones Brian valued most was a contract that brought AMF to international attention. In 2009 and 2010, the company delivered five rescue boats to the Abu Dhabi Coastguard under a $5.5 million contract. The UAE delegation had come to AMF after doing their research, and as Brian noted, they had "googled AMF and found it stood among the best in the world." The boats then had to prove themselves in the punishing heat of the Gulf, and they did exactly that, completing their service without a single warranty claim.
None of this was built alone. Brian's wife Jodi Collings was beside him throughout, sharing both the ownership and the leadership of AMF Boats. Jodi's connection to the company stretched back to its founding in 1984, when she worked on the shop floor alongside her father Paul Sharratt before moving into administration, pricing, and sales. Together, Brian and Jodi grew AMF Rivercity Marine into a world-class operation, one whose standing rested on honesty, teamwork, and a refusal to cut corners.
Those who worked with Brian speak of a man who held high standards and expected them from everyone around him, but who was never too busy to share what he knew. Practical and direct, he was also generous with his time and his experience. He held firmly to the belief that good boats come from good people, and he built a close-knit team that shared his pride in the work.
The boats Brian helped create are his most visible legacy. AMF vessels now serve Coastguard units and private owners across New Zealand and far beyond its shores, each one carrying something of the discipline and integrity of the man who set the standard for how they were made.
A service celebrating Brian's life will be held on Monday 10 November at 11 am at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre. Dempsey and Forrest Funeral Home will provide live-streaming of the service.
