Badrynauth Kowlessar, better known as “Kenny”, is a well-known boat builder of Cullen Village, Essequibo Coast, who has a small business operating from his home.

The 47-year-old is a self-styled boat builder who, from age 16, patterned his skills from watching his cousins build boats in the Pomeroon River, his hometown.

He married a local of the village and relocated to Cullen, and set up his workshop at the side of his house.

Kowlessar reported that he has three full-time workers, and they collectively build wooden boats made to order.

The father of two added that he would make speed boats, fishing boats and cargo boats in all sizes and dimensions as required by the clients.

The biggest boat he built was 65 feet long, made out of silverballi wood and it was a cargo boat.

The 47-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that a boat made of greenheart and silverballi would last up to 15 years, and those are better woods to use.

The cost for a speedboat is about $1.5M, and a cargo boat which is much larger, is priced at $3M.

Kowlessar reported that boat-building is an all-season kind of work, and he doesn’t get a day off because the job is demanding.

A boat takes from six weeks to two months to be completed and made river-ready, with all local materials sourced from the Essequibo Coast.

At the time the team visited, Kowlessar was in the process of making six different boats which were in various stages of completion.

He is working to fulfil all his orders at this point and would like to complete the six boats on time to reduce the waiting process for his clients.

“Working from home is nice and I prefer not to work with people, but being self-employed takes discipline, and you cannot take on work you can’t finish. That’s bad for business,” he said.

In his line of business, time is money. It is a lot of manual labour and hours to finally complete a boat.