Scott Dagley is a fourth generation Nova Scotia boatbuilder, who began working on boats when he was 13 years old. His first teacher was his father, the late Gerald Dagley, who had helped build the tall ships Bluenose II and the Bounty in Lunenburg, in the 1960’s.

Gerald helped Scott restore his first boat, an old bank dory. She had been purchased for $5 and was rebuilt, rigged to sail, and then resold for $75.

Scott’s second boat was an old Mahone Bay runabout, purchased from a friend for a quart of rum. Scott and his father not only restored and rebuilt her; they also added a 1956 Johnson Seahorse motor. Scott was hooked on boatbuilding!

Scott’s formal boatbuilding education continued under master shipwright Nelson Cutler. He received his diploma in boatbuilding from the province of Nova Scotia in 1985.

Scott began his career working for New Dublin Watercrafts. There he gained experience in fiberglass and epoxy, as well as in building traditional cedar canvas canoes. He then spent eight and a half years employed by Covey Island Boatworks, working on mono-hulls, tri-hulls and yachts up to 80 feet in length, using a variety of traditional and modern materials and techniques.

He started his own business in 1995, which became Dagley’s Boatworks. Dagley’s Boatworks is well known for quality boatbuilding and restoration work, completed efficiently and on time.

In 2006 Scott was chosen by the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association to be a mentor for apprentice boatbuilders.

At Dagley’s Boatworks, we have a diversified set of skills and services. We build everything from sailing and motor yachts up to 40 feet in length to racing and pleasure canoes, Chinese dragon boats and custom Novie boats. We repair and restore both commercial and pleasure craft.

Repairs and Restoration

We repair wooden hulls using traditional methods, or epoxy wooden hulls with fiberglass.

We can repair and rebuild fiberglass hulls.

We can widen your fiberglass hull to make it more stable, spacious and comfortable.

If you have a wooden hull that you would prefer to have in solid fiberglass, we can do that for you, too. The wooden hull is fiberglassed, and then the fiberglass is removed. Now the “new” fiberglass hull can be custom-sized to your specifications.

Interiors

Interiors can be custom made – we discuss and plan the layout together. If we can make it work, there is no limit on what can be done.

New Construction

We can build to your designer’s specifications or design and build your own “one-off” boat, unique to your requirements.

We can also use Novie glass hulls and new or used wooden hulls. We have built two motor yachts from used wooden hulls that had come to us for a complete recondition.