Doughboats is a family owned and operated business.

Hi, we’re the Kells - James, Laurel, and Sophia. And we own and operate Doughboats Lake Taupo. We’ve lived in Taupo since January 2017 and we love the area. James was born and raised in Auckland before he moved to Australia for 10 years and then onto California where he met and married me (Laurel), the American. I grew up in North Carolina and Taupo is one of the only places in this beautiful country that felt like home to me, which is why we left Auckland after three years and moved down here. I’m a nutritionist and James is a design engineer. So how did we end up with the idea of Doughboats?!

Life was rolling as usual when our world was blown up on NYE of 2018 when James was burnt from above the knees to the tip of his toes in a freak bon fire accident. Long story short - Months before the accident we had seriously discussed two business ideas: 1. a paleo donut business, 2. building “pod” boats and running a rental boat business on Lake Taupo. While James was in hospital an ad from the manufacturer of donut boats popped up on his facebook feed and that was the beginning of Doughboats. After the dramas of skin graft surgery, giving birth, and recovering, we hit the ground running towards bringing donut boats to New Zealand. James is the epitome of an entreprenuer and I’ve embraced his way of thinking that anyone can do anything they want to if they will just go all in and give it their best shot.

We love Taupo and we are so thrilled to have brought this fun and unique activity to the lake. We look forward to meeting you!!