Jerry Williams bolts in brackets at Coyote Manufacturing.

NASHVILLE — Coyote Manufacturing recently celebrated, sold and delivered its 1,000th boat trailer, a feat the company accomplished in a little under a year.

“We produced and delivered 1,000 trailers in 11 months,” said David Money, co-owner of the company.

Coyote got its start when Money sat down for lunch one day with Buck Pegg, founder of Chaparral Boats.

Pegg had recently talked with the Berrien County Development Authority about locally producing a product that Chaparral was purchasing from elsewhere that Chaparral could then purchase locally.

“Buck took it as a personal challenge to make it happen,” said Money.

Pegg and Money had known each other for years. Money runs a body shop, Southern Body Works, that Pegg used for vehicle work for company vehicles.

Pegg pitched the idea to

Money of creating a local

company that would create boat trailers that Chaparral could

buy for its boats.

To do this, Money sought another person he’d known for years: Tony Lanier, who owns T&T Machine Shop in Fitzgerald.

“We went to school together, since the second or third grade,” said Money. “When it came to the finish, the quality, I could handle that. But when it comes to manufacturing some of the products it takes, I wanted to team up with someone who had that machining background, the fabrication and the machining side of it.”

Lanier liked the idea and he and Money started Coyote Manufacturing in August 2013, with Chaparral as its first customer.

But before they could sell the first trailer, the company had a lot of work to do.

First up was finding a location, which was found close to Money’s body shop – a 110,000 square foot storage warehouse.

“They (BCDA) helped us get into this building,” said Money. “They played a big impact and went out of their way to make sure we got what we needed and got a good facility to make all of it happen and create some jobs in this area.”

The warehouse had been used for cotton and peanut storage in the past. Before it could make the change to a manufacturing plant, it needed a heavy makeover.

“It was just an empty warehouse. We had to wire the building, set up ventilation systems, get all the equipment in, get welders and powder coating baking ovens, get gas lines put in. It was a big undertaking to get it to where it could take off.”

After working through a few trailer prototypes, Coyote Manufacturing sold its first trailer to Chaparral in May 2014.

Since, Coyote has added a number of products for Chaparral boats: Leaning posts, ski tow, windshield frames, display lifts.

Coyote also offers personalized trailers for one-on-one customers.

This year, Money projects Coyote will ship 2,000 trailers, bolstered in part by a second assembly line scheduled to start in the next two to three weeks.

Coyote employees about 35 people and puts out 10-12 trailers a day.

With the new line, output should increase to 18-20 trailers a day, with new employee positions created as well.

“Our number one goal is to make Chaparral happy and supply them,” said Money. “When we get to a point where we can keep up with them and supply them, we’ll venture out further.”

But that might take some time. Boat sales for Chaparral have been on the rise, which means Chaparral’s need for trailers has been on the rise.

Coyote Manufacturing plans to chase after the rising need, which fits the company’s namesake.

Chaparral is another name for the roadrunner birds made popular by the Warner Bros. cartoons, and when it came time to name the company, Money and Lanier looked to Wile E. Coyote, the coyote that chases after the roadrunner no matter how fast it goes.