Plum Creek customer enjoys fast boats

Gary Colledge was flying over Flathead Lake en route to a visit with Plum Creek Timber Co. in Columbia Falls when he decided he needed to bring his boat on his next visit.

Colledge is the owner of Colledgewood Inc., a California-based manufacturing company that runs medium-density fiberboard from Plum Creek’s Columbia Falls plant through a patented embossing process to emulate various wood grains, like oak, cherry and walnut. Colledge’s plant produces 90,000 veneer “skins” a week for 45,000 doors. His plant is so successful it has never stopped running — not even during the Great Recession.

“I haven’t laid off anyone in 40 years,” Colledge said last week.

Colledge is a Korean War veteran who lost his hearing in one ear after a cotton ball fell out and a 5-inch gun went off near his head. After the war, he started a store display business, sold it, and then started Colledgewood. He’s the sole owner and has been going strong ever since.

Colledgewood is one of Plum Creek’s largest customers, and Colledge was back in the valley to visit Plum Creek and tour the MDF plant.

But this time he brought his boat. It’s no ordinary craft. Colledge has been an avid street drag racer and a boat racer since he was in his 30s and has many race wins to his credit. The “Colledgewood” will go 140 mph — he had it cruising that fast on Flathead Lake one day earlier, he said. Largely his design, the 42-foot boat seats six and has two 1,350 horsepower eight-cylinder twin-turbocharged Mercruiser engines. The interior is designed to look like a Bentley car.

“Sometimes we went 140, sometimes 65, and sometimes we just stopped and listened to the music,” he said.

At 83, Colledge doesn’t race anymore, but he still enjoys going fast. He was also impressed with the Flathead Valley.

“It’s gorgeous,” he said. “You’ve got a well kept secret.”