A Taihape company that provided inflatable boats for the soon-to-be released Angelina Jolie-helmed film Unbroken is also working on dry docks for the oil industry and large, stable rescue boats for multiple emergency situations in the United States.
Incept Marine owner John Booth expects he will catch up with the film at some point after it is released in New Zealand on January 22.
Incept makes and exports inflatable kayaks, rafts and rescue craft all over the world and got an order from the procurement agent for the film for 30 inflatable boats. Unbroken is the story of American Olympic runner Louis Zamperini who, having been sent to World War II, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near-fatal plane crash only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and consigned to a prisoner-of-war camp.
"I don't know what they did with them all," says Mr Booth.
The film was made in Australia. The boats were made "old and weathered" for the film sequences of Zamperini in the raft, but the remainder of Incept Marine's work is definitely cutting edge.
Among the latest projects are possible inflatable docks for oil company Chevron for its tankers and a large, very stable rescue boat that can take a tonne payload, travel at 45km/h and opens out at the front for easy access to water.
With oil companies extending operations into more ecologically sensitive areas, they need to keep tankers as pristine as possible. That's where the Incept Marine inflatable docks come in.
Used already by councils around New Zealand for inspecting smaller boats that require quarantine, the oil tanker size inflatable docks will enable the ships to be isolated and cleaned of barnacles and other micro organisms. The company was approached by an agent on behalf of Chevron. Mr Booth said the idea was just an approach to date.
The large rescue boats are being made for United States company Oceanid to be used in the United States and Canada. Incept Marine has applied for a patent for the boat which will be used for rescues from floods, and in snow and ice conditions.
Mr Booth said one of their features was stability. "The whole load can be moved over to one side and they won't tip over."
Incept Marine does about a third of its work in the Southern Hemisphere and the remainder is Northern orders.