Keith Gillatt completed his furniture upholstery apprenticeship in West Heidelberg before making the pivot to marine trimming through a mate who needed seats done for a boat mould he’d acquired. There were no marine specialists to speak of at the time, so Keith worked it out himself. Word spread fast, and he quickly became Melbourne’s go-to marine trimmer – building a reputation one boat at a time from a two-car garage in Bundoora.
Keith’s passion for the water extended well beyond the workshop. He built his own offshore powerboat from the ground up and competed in the Australian Offshore Powerboat Championship before going on to co-pilot Peter Han’s Supersteel – winning the Class 3 World Title. The experience deepened his understanding of marine materials and on-water performance in ways that fed directly back into the quality of every job that left the workshop.
Word of mouth was everything in the early days – and Bundoora was already flat out, seven days a week. When friends brought a Hallett Hustler mould out from the US, Keith took space in their factory and the business grew from there. What started as covers and boat seats evolved into a full-service marine trimming operation, earning a reputation across the industry that no amount of advertising could have built.
Reputation is what I built Bundoora on, and to this day it's what I'm still most proud of.
Adam Gillatt grew up around boats and a father who set an uncompromising standard. The lesson that stuck: if you’re going to do something, be better at it than anyone else. Adam carried that into the business — pushing Bundoora forward through technology, innovation and an unwavering focus on quality. His vision is straightforward: to make a Bundoora product accessible to boat owners and builders anywhere in the world.
Joining Adam is co-owner Scott Sullivan, whose commercial focus has shaped Bundoora’s next chapter. Together they’ve expanded the business well beyond its origins – working with direct customers, professional trimmers, bespoke design clients and OEM boat builders across Australia and internationally. From ski boats and fishing boats to luxury yachts and large-scale commercial projects, Bundoora now serves the full breadth of the marine market.
Backed by a strategic international manufacturing partnership, Bundoora combines Australian craft standards with global production capacity – delivering consistent quality to customers and trade partners around the world. Decades after Keith set up in that Bundoora garage, the business he built on reputation alone is now positioned to supply the global marine industry without compromising on the standards that made it.