Mind you, he is surrounded by them every day when he goes to work at Careys Bay Marine Services, which he purchased last year. It was a change of scenery for the 32-year-old diesel mechanic, who previously worked at the Macraes goldmine.
The 10 staff at his new business have 13 boats at the yard, all requiring work of one kind or another.
The firm used to be known as Miller & Tunnage, a long-established boatbuilding business.
Originally from Whangarei, he had always loved boats and was a keen fisherman, Mr Donaldson said.
Despite earning good money at the gold mine, where he was a foreman and leading hand, the hardest part was to "go forward" and there were long days involved when travel from Dunedin was factored in.
The chance to buy Careys Bay Marine Services arose early last year but at the time he did not think he could manage it.
About six months later, it came up for sale again and this time he worked out a way of buying the company.
Since then, it had been a busy time dealing with a range of customers, from pleasure boats to commercial boats. Closure of the Timaru slip meant the closest competition was Bluff and Lyttelton.
An advantage of his business was that it was a "one-stop shop" approach with a variety of skills among the staff including expertise in engineering, painting, fibreglassing, caulking and master craftsmanship in traditional boat building.
"It’s really varied, that’s why we’ve got such varied staff. There’s so many aspects. We’ve got most aspects here under this roof. [Customers] can come and get everything done," he said.
While not from a marine industry background, he brought organisational skills to the business, which included putting various systems in place, and mechanical skills.
He was very lucky to have his foreman Phil Heseltine, and it was family oriented with Mr Heseltine’s wife Liz doing the office work, along with the other expertise. One staff member, aged 67, had been there since he got an apprenticeship at 15.
There were bookings through to November next year — although it was not fully booked until then — but nothing could be booked in from now "pretty much until February", he said.
Mr Donaldson said he was very proactive with training, something he believed was important, and he spent an hour one night a week helping with bookwork for those that were doing it.
The biggest challenge was the realisation that things he hoped to do in the first year would probably take six years.
What he really wanted to be doing was building boats — commercial fishing boats and possibly some pleasure boats, Mr Donaldson said. There were plans to start building a trailer boat.
But starting out, there was not the capital to get under way with all that. There was also the need to keep the slips maintained, and health and safety was also a challenge and something he had to keep proactive about.
While interested in building fibreglass and aluminium boats, what he would also love to build was a classic wooden boat.
His main goal in the near-term was to buy the land and buildings.
He was very grateful for the support from his family, including his father-in-law and his parents.
