by Jason Johnson, Columnist
May 14th, 2014
For many years, DCB Performance Boats has set the standard when it comes to high-end cockpits in West Coast custom boats. One of the main reasons for that is the company’s interior and upholstery guru, Carlos Lafarga.
Lafarga learned the trade toiling alongside his father, David Lafarga, who worked for boat companies such as Wright Boats, Sleekcraft Boats and Eliminator Boats. The younger Lafarga has worked off and on for DCB for the better part of two decades. He owned Premier Marine Interiors for many years and even spent more than a year designing and producing the interiors for Cigarette Racing Team models a couple of years ago.
Lafarga, who lives in Canyon Lake, Calif., with his wife (his high school sweetheart) and teenage daughter, has been back in Southern California for a little more than a year and said he couldn’t be happier.
“I really enjoyed working at Cigarette and with Skip (Braver, the owner of Cigarette), but Florida just wasn’t for my family at that time,” Lafarga said. “Skip was very fair with me and he gave me a lot of freedom. I learned plenty there, too. The facility is extremely clean and organized, and the company’s embroidery is way ahead of the game. That’s something I gained a lot of knowledge about at Cigarette and have tried to apply on the boats at DCB.”
Lafarga said he loves the creative side of designing boat interiors and being on the cutting edge of style. He credits the automotive industry for many of his ideas. He also credits the advancements in materials, equipment and more for allowing him to keep pushing the envelope.
“I like to be the first to do things, and I love seeing people copy what I do,” Lafarga said. “I get all the automotive magazines and I go to the car shows and I just see little things that I like. Of course, we can’t build a seat like a car—they’re just two different animals—but I can take little things and incorporate them into our style.”
Lafarga appreciates the freedom provided to him by owner Rob Blair and company founder Dave Hemmingson. “The guys here pretty much let me do whatever I want as far as styling—they trust me,” said Lafarga, who owns a 21-foot Tracker that he’s transformed into a “cool little deck boat” for the private lake his family lives on.
Along with some new concepts he’s working on for the next generation of DCB models, Lafarga is also handling restoration projects here and there—and not just for DCB customers. In fact, he’s currently working on freshening up a 46-foot Outerlimits model for a Southern California customer.
Not only are Lafarga’s wife and daughter happy to be back in California, everyone at DCB seems to be thankful to have him back as well.
“I have worked with Carlos for more than 15 years here at DCB,” said Paul Miller, general manager of DCB. “His work ethic and his drive to continually push the limits of interior design are second to none in my opinion. He really puts the company’s best interest first and his quality of work is outstanding.”
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Former Powerboat editor Jason Johnson was an integral part of the magazine staff from 2005 through 2011, utilizing journalistic integrity and experience in and around performance boats to report on all aspects of the go-fast lifestyle. The award-winning writer resides in Southern California and is the executive editor and co-publisher of speedonthewater.com, and writes for Sportboat and Powerboating in Paradise magazines.