About Us....

Established in 1997 by John Fitzhardinge and Chris Smart, Southerly Designs is based in Port Denison at the heart of Western Australia's rock lobster industry. While the company's origins can be traced to the many fishing boats and patrol vessels John designed for the Australian market over the past 25 years, as a recent client list shows, today Southerly Designs is just as likely to be working on designs for vessels based in Malaysia, Singapore or Jakarta.

As a professional fisherman with 40 years' experience, John has taken his knowledge of the sea and translated it into designs which handle well in all conditions, are fuel efficient and offer comfort without sacrificing performance.

Chris also has a passion for innovative design and ensures the ideas are brought to the market using the best of the latest technology available. He coordinates Southerly Design's use of leading edge computer-aided design, manufacture and naval architecture software to facilitate and enhance the design process.

Over the years Southerly Designs have branched out from the core fishing vessel designs to two other main areas of expertise: Crew Vessels & Patrol Vessels. We have designed over 100 high performance vessels to international classes such as Lloyds, DNV & BV.

John, Chris & the dedicated technical staff work from a modern office in Port Denison surrounded by the best in CAD/CAM hardware & software, backed up by an extensive database of real world data from the many vessels built to our designs. A typical Southerly Design package includes performance prediction, 2d & 3d visualizations, structural design, nested plasma cut part files & stability analysis., and with the benefits of modern internet technology we can deliver designs to shipyards anywhere in the world.

Southerly Designs has a long association with Geraldton Boat Builders, Western Boat Builders & Strategic Marine, and more recently Asia-Pac Geraldton, Extreme Marine, Hound Dog Marine & Select Marine. We work with quality boat builders to ensure our designs will exceed specifications.