Boating New Zealand Boat Reviews
Reviews
Boating New Zealand News
News
Boating New Zealand Sports
Sport
Boating New Zealand Lifestyle
Lifestyle
BOAT-REVIEWS-MOBILE
Boat Reviews
BOAT-NEWS-MOBILE
News
BOAT-SPORTS-MOBILE
Sports
BOAT-LIFESTYLE-MOBILE
Lifestyle
HomeMagazineBoat BusinessTauranga ideal location for superyacht ‘birthday’

Tauranga ideal location for superyacht ‘birthday’

Published
Bookmark post
Bookmarked
Bookmark post
Bookmarked

A 25-year ‘birthday’ for a New Zealand-built superyacht turned into a sort of homecoming, when she was recently fully refitted in Tauranga. S/Y Miss Silver, which was launched in 1995 (as Sovereign), was hauled out by Vessel Works in Tauranga’s Sulphur Point Marine Precinct, and spent ten months in the 50 metre long shed at Super Yacht Coatings, having a full interior and exterior refit.

S/Y Miss Silver was built by Alloy Yachts in west Auckland, and has spent much of her life in Europe. In 2020, her new owners decided to combine a trip down-under for the 2021 America’s Cup with a major refit.

“At twenty-five years old, superyachts are due for a massive upgrade of all their systems, and it just seemed appropriate to take her back to the country where she was built,” says skipper Wayne Avery. “We knew the standard of New Zealand workmanship set a very high bar, and lots of people who used to work for Alloy are still involved in the marine industry here.”

- Advertisement, article continues below -
Bayliner 4388 image
1993 | Bayliner 4388
36 Degrees Logo
Discover a wide range of yachts and boats for sale with 36 Degrees Brokers. Expert guidance in NZ and the South Pacific to find your perfect vessel, price $240,000
Enquire Now

Avery says undertaking the refit in Tauranga with Vessel Works was attractive because of the ease of access to facilities and trades, as well as a skilled and experienced workforce.

“The Super Yacht Coatings shed is world class, and the painters there are world class,” he says. “You can’t underestimate the number of man-hours involved in a project like this, and labour is twenty per cent cheaper in Tauranga than Auckland. Plus, everything is so centralised, so tradespeople aren’t having to waste valuable work time travelling.”

As well as a full repaint inside and out, all the yacht’s secondary systems — including engineering, electrical, navigational, lighting and entertainment — were all upgraded and enhanced with the latest technology. “She’s now better than new, because all the problems and bugbears that used to exist have been ironed out,” Avery says.

She’s now a different colour, too: her original dark blue hull is now a glistening stark white, with a silver bootstrap. Super Yacht Coatings’ general manager Ben Steele says it’s given the yacht a much more modern look: “You’d never think that she was more than twenty-five years old.”

Super Yacht Coatings got involved in the project after meeting with Avery in mid-2020 and showing him their new shed, then nearing completion.

- Advertisement, article continues below -
Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 image
2023 | Beneteau Oceanis 30.1
36 Degrees Logo
Beneteau Oceanis 30.1 for sale. Turn-key ready, she has been fully imported in NZ and commissioned by our service team. . Enquire today with 36° Brokers, price $349,000
Enquire Now

“A big part of the attraction of Tauranga was that they could have this space as their own facility, and were able to almost exclusively use local contractors,” Steele says. “It’s what the Marine Precinct was designed to do — to increase and expand the marine industry in Tauranga — and this kind of project was ideal.”

The Vessel Works precinct includes sites for marine businesses, a 6300 m2 vessel hardstand, deep-water marina berths for large vessels, and one of New Zealand’s largest mobile vessel hoists. Businesses based there cover a wide spread of specialities, from fibreglassing to marine engineering, vessel painting and timber decking to composite building, encouraging collaboration between marine businesses and creating a one-stop-shop for customers getting their vessels serviced in Tauranga.

www.vesselworks.co.nz

SHARE:

Article
Article

Demand for hybrids on the rise

Boat Business
Eyachts, the exclusive distributor of Greenline Yachts in Australia and New Zealand, has been named ...
Article
Article

New Brand Strategist for GB Marine Group

Boat Business
Marketing leader Lynn Fischer joins luxury yacht builder GB Marine Group as Global Chief Marketing O...
Article
Article

New vessels, branding for Whiskey Project

Boat Business
The Whiskey Project Group (TWPG) has unveiled VYCOR, a new line of high-performance commercial water...

Comments

This conversation is moderated by Boating New Zealand. Subscribe to view comments and join the conversation. Choose your plan →

This conversation is moderated by Boating New Zealand.

Boating New Zealand
Boating New Zealandhttps://www.boatingnz.co.nz
Boating NZ is New Zealand’s premier marine title devoted to putting its readers behind the wheel of the latest trailerboats, yachts and launches to hit the market. It inspires with practical content and cruising adventures, leads the fleet with its racing coverage and is on the pulse of the latest maritime news and innovation.

Marine industry growth means new offices at Cracker Bay: Work, play, and look out over the Waitematā...

Tucked right on the edge of Auckland’s Westhaven Marina, a newly refurbished and reimagined office building is now ready to welcome a select few more tenants.

Barnacle Buster

Barnacle Buster is a highly effective marine growth remover specifically designed to tackle the buildup of barnacles and other marine organisms in your raw water cooling system. This powerful for...

Roger Hill Yacht Design Ltd

My studio is based in Auckland, New Zealand. I believe that the yachts I design should be beautiful, functional, and meet the owner’s brief. Our office motto > A successful project is a ha...

LATEST NEWS

Riviera 4600 SY

This vessel epitomises elegance with its sleek lines and contemporary design, offering a seamless fusion of indoor and outdoor living in a spacious, open-plan layout.

2012 Alloy Cat NZ Kingfisher 900

Alloy Cats designed a great fishing catamaran in their Kingfisher 9m. Good layout with plenty of storage and sleeping for four.

Win a Yamaha Re-power with the new #ImRePoweringWithYamaha Competition

After a successful inaugural competition in 2022, Yamaha are doing it again, with the #ImRePoweringWithYamaha competition for 2025. In 2022, Yamaha ran a social media-based competition, to give one...