The yard was established on Covey Island, one of the LaHave Islands in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, in 1979 by John Steele and two partners.
The first boats were canoes and kayaks, but all were custom and composite wood/epoxy from the start. Soon the yard was building commercial vessels and by 1984 had begun to build pleasure boats.
After struggling with the logistics of shipping and receiving materials from an island, the business moved onto the mainland at nearby Petite Riviere, in 1987. The new plant was a former village store, which was soon expanded for the construction of 70' Ted Brewer gaff schooner Tree of Life, launched in 1991.
By the mid-90's, the ownership structure evolved into two managing partner/directors plus a director elected annually by the employees.
Covey Island Boatworks has now built almost 100 custom vessels, including lobsteryachts and shoal draft motoryachts, as well as blue water sailing cruisers.
The yard's Petite Riviere plant was destroyed by fire in August, 2008. As part of the recovery, company offices moved to Lunenburg and a new yard has been established in Riverport at the mouth of the LaHave River.
In 2010, Covey Island expanded its yard facilities to Lunenburg, in partnership with Waterfront Development Corporation. Covey's presence in Lunenburg grew to include one two-bay building, known as the Marina Building, a showroom for its line of AB Inflatable Boats, and the operation of the Lunenburg Marina.
In 2013, Covey Island's company offices moved from Montague Street to Burma Road, placing it in strategic proximity to the Covey Island yard facilities in Lunenburg, as well as the Lunenburg Marina.
More recently, we moved from Riverport into a much larger facility in Liverpool where we purchased a 16,000 square ft clear span steel building. The larger building allows us to work on much larger boats and projects and also provides ample room for inside and outside storage.