In Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Barry O’Neil has made a career out of figuring things out.

Long before Rock Solid Composites Ltd. became a family-owned manufacturing business building Bankes Boats, industrial fiberglass products, and massive train-top covers bound for markets across North America, Barry was repairing boats because he needed to. He had boats of his own, rented them to the Sea Cadet movement in Cornwallis, and worked as a civilian instructor. When something needed fixing, he learned how to fix it.

“I learned fiberglass, and then I just picked it up,” Barry says. “Having to do it to survive.”

He laughs when he describes himself in those early days: “Backyard mechanic, basically.”

That practical, self-taught approach became the foundation for a business that has spent three decades adapting to whatever opportunity came next. Rock Solid Composites Ltd., operated publicly as Rock Solid Fabricators, is owned by Barry and his wife, Mary Lou O’Neil. Together, they oversee the day-to-day realities of the company, from manufacturing and administration to customer service, sales, and long-term planning.

From Backyard Repairs to Custom Manufacturing

The business traces its roots to 1989, and Barry moved it into Cornwallis Park in 1996. “I was one of the first ones there,” he says. Over the years, Rock Solid has built fiberglass ambulance tops, vehicle parts, accessible van tops, clothing bins, domes, boats, and custom fiberglass products of all kinds.

“That’s been a knack I’ve had right from the get-go,” Barry says, “being able to flip from one product to another.”

That willingness to pivot eventually brought the company deeper into boat building. After years in the fiberglass and marine industries, Barry purchased the Bankes Boats molds, name, and related assets from Ron Bankes in Ontario after Bankes retired. With support from CBDC Annapolis Ventures, and in partnership with ACOA, Rock Solid was able to prepare its facility for the new line.

The work was extensive. A building that had been filled with freezers and coolers had to be stripped out, rewired, relit, equipped, and reorganized into production stations capable of building multiple boats at once.

“That’s where their money came in,” Barry says, “to help us with equipment and the improvements.”

For Rock Solid, the support was about more than financing. It helped the company expand into a product line with a strong reputation among waterfowl hunters and guides across Canada and the United States. Today, Rock Solid manufactures premium fiberglass hunting and waterfowl boats under the Bankes Boats brand, with ten different models and many components built in-house.

“At the end of the day, we’re boat builders,” Barry says. “We take a lot of pride in building a boat that hunters trust in some of the toughest conditions.”

Scaling Up for a Major Manufacturing Contract

Still, even as boats remain central to the company’s identity, Rock Solid’s story has never been about one product alone. Recently, one of its biggest leaps has come through a contract with EcoFab to build train-top covers for the mining sector. The covers are enormous, measuring roughly 54 feet by 11 feet, and are used to help keep product from blowing out of rail cars while also improving fuel mileage.

At first, the covers took three days each to build. Then the team refined the process. They changed the shop layout, installed overhead cranes, altered doors, trained employees, and kept production moving at the same time. Now, Rock Solid is building two train tops a day.

“We’re pounding parts out pretty fast,” Barry says.

The company goes through roughly 20 drums of resin a week, and Barry estimates they have built about 300 tops since the project began. Each part weighs about a ton, which means the company had to rethink not only how to make them, but how to safely move them.

That transformation is one of Barry’s proudest recent achievements. “We had to work right around the clock,” he says. “With only seven people, we pulled it off.”

EcoFab has been equally impressed, stating, “Rock Solid Fabricators has met the challenge we gave them to provide a large number of railcar covers on a tight schedule.”

The growth changed the company quickly. Rock Solid went from seven employees to 17 full-time staff, plus part-time support, with additional hiring as production demands increase. For Barry and Mary Lou, that growth matters because those jobs are local, skilled, and rooted in rural Nova Scotia.

Investing in People

The team includes family. Mary Lou works in the business, as do their daughters. On the shop floor, many employees have been trained from the ground up. Barry says he actually likes hiring people who are new to the trade because the company can teach them its way of working.

“We train them the way that we like,” he says.

Finding and keeping good workers is a challenge for many rural businesses, but Barry says Rock Solid has found success by treating people well. The company pays competitively, offers benefits, and invests in training. Just as importantly, the culture is close.

“It’s more family than employees,” Barry says. “We all get along great.”

There is even a Thursday barbecue, which Barry credits, at least in part, for the workplace spirit. Employees are now recommending Rock Solid to others, and Barry says the company has a stack of resumes from people interested in joining.

That loyalty is especially meaningful in a business where nearly everything is hands-on. While technology has changed the fiberglass industry, Barry is quick to point out that the work still depends on people.

“It’s all done by hand,” he says. “We have spray equipment, but it still has to be touched by people.”

Building for Tomorrow

Looking ahead, Barry and Mary Lou see several paths for growth. They want to expand the Bankes Boats dealer network, improve marketing, build inventory so customers are not waiting months for orders, and continue growing the EcoFab train-top work. They are also exploring new product development, including adapting hunting boats into sport boats for a broader market and investigating possible drone applications for military use.

“There is opportunity there,” Barry says. “Totally is.”

For a company built on adaptation, the future feels less like a departure than a continuation. Not every project is the right fit, Barry admits, but Rock Solid’s range says something about the company’s core ability.

It can learn. It can adjust. It can build.

And it can do all of that from Cornwallis, where products made by a rural Nova Scotia team are being used all across North America.

For Barry and Mary Lou, that is a point of pride. What began with one self-taught builder repairing boats has grown into a company supporting local families, training people in a specialized trade, and proving that high-quality manufacturing can thrive in rural Nova Scotia.

Rock Solid’s name may describe the products, but it also describes the way the business has endured: practical, resilient, and ready for whatever comes next.

Thank you to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), who collaborate with us to support small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. Together, we will continue to build a stronger Atlantic Canadian economy, fostering job growth and strengthening our rural communities.