Encep and Chandra are carrying a wooden boat they built and painted a bright royal blue.

They walk barefoot in the rain, along the slippery embankment to the edge of the Saguling reservoir in West Java. They are delivering the boat to the buyer that commissioned it.

“This boat will be delivered to a man from Dayeuhkolot, whose house was hit by the flood,” says Encep, an elementary school graduate.

Encep has been running the year-old boat building business from his house in Cililin, Bandung, West Java.

His primary source of livelihood is farming nila (Nile tilapia) using submerged cages in the Saguling reservoir. Still, he sensed that building wooden boat had strong business potential and in the end, he taught himself how to build boats.

“In the beginning, I bought a used boat and then I fixed it,” says the 31-year-old father of two.

Encep remains optimistic despite the tough competition among boat building businesses, and receives an average of four orders per month. “[The boats] are priced at Rp 4.5 million [US$314.30] each, excluding engine,” he says.

It takes one to two weeks to build a single boat, depending on its size. His assistant, Chandra, has been with him since he started the business.

The buyers of the boats, which are made of kayu suren (Indonesian mahogany), include the fish farmers of Saguling reservoir, owners of fishing boat rental businesses and residents of local areas prone to flooding.

Best quality: Encep checks the quality of lumber cut from kayu suren (Indonesian mahogany) for its suitability in building a boat.

Watertight: Chandra hammers in boat nails to secure the planks of a hull.

Curved bow: Chandra installs panels at the bow of a boat.

Ready for the catch: Fishing rods are at the ready in the bow of one of Encep’s boats, which has been leased to anglers in the Saguling reservoir, West Java.

— Text and photos by JP/Arief Suhardiman