Innovision’s range of distinctive and capable trailerboats are finding favour with media pundits and the boating public alike.
Ten years ago, marine electrician, amateur boat builder and career sailor Simon Minoprio began building his first Innovision boat, in aluminium, inspired by the Wally Boats he’d seen in the Mediterranean while leading his Vision Yachting sailing team on the Match Racing World Circuit. Minoprio is partially blind in his left eye, which the team’s name wryly played on.
Minoprio always wanted to be a boatbuilder, having helped his father finish his uncle’s yacht while still a boy, but the resins used for composite boat building didn’t agree with him, so he became a marine electrician instead.
But his first love was yachting. A gifted sailor, he’d competed in the Optimist Words in Ireland and South Africa as a boy, sailed P-Class and Starlings, and was part of the RYNYS Youth Training programme for four years before embarking on his 10-year professional sailing career.
Seeing a Wally Boat for the first time was “a light bulb moment”, says Minoprio, who was deeply impressed by the luxury marque’s distinctive looks and ground-breaking performance.
Now 30 years old and back at home, he found himself unimpressed with the ride and handling of his friend’s father’s aluminum trailer boat – and was quite vocal about what he didn’t like. “So why don’t you build your own?” his friends asked. That was the catalyst for Innovision Boats.
That first boat, built to Minoprio’s innovative and unique design by a contract fabricator in a shed in Keeling Rd, Henderson – close to where he would later open his first factory – took too long to build and the fabrication costs were too high. But it performed well, even if the aesthetics “still needed work”. The boat’s owner loved it.
The second and third Innovision trailer boats followed in quick succession, Minoprio finishing off boat #2 on the street outside his home. As word got out, demand for these unique vessels grew, and Minoprio built boats to order in borrowed sheds using contract fabricators in New Plymouth and Whangarei. He built them as fast as his order book, labour constraints and cashflow would allow.
Every new boat was an evolution of those that had come before. Minoprio continuously developed the range, adding centre-console and hardtop models and tweaking aesthetics and layouts, but the hull design parameters have remained the same since those early boats. “We got the hulls really sorted after the first few boats, so there’s been no need to change the hull profiles, just small tweaks,” says Miniprio. “It’s all about perfection!”
Interest in the brand was growing among those in the know, especially sport fishers impressed by the innovision boats’ exceptional ride quality, sea worthiness and interior volume, so he needed to expand production. Around four and a half years ago, Miniprio’’s wife Haylee put the heat on – “It’s time to make this hobby a business,” she said. Grateful for her support, he took her advice and moved into premises in Keeling Rd, Henderson, employing his own staff to build the boats.
Along with the smaller models Innovision had made its reputation on, in order to meet his new customers’ elevated expectations, the company was now building bigger models as well, to higher specifications and finished off to ever higher standards, all carried on high-quality Innovision aluminium trailers.
Innovision Boats began to be recognised by the marine industry too – in recent years it has received four awards at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show, recognising excellence.
While the Henderson factory allowed Minoprio to fill orders more quickly, demand was still outstripping supply. Recognising he needed still more capacity, and finally with enough cash flow to make his next move, two years ago he leased a much larger, modern facility in Rosedale on Auckland’s North Shore.
Now with 10 staff on the floor, plus Simon and an Office Manager, Innovision Boats has the capacity to build up to 25 boats per year. Currently pumping out 15-20 boats a year, Simon has had to rely on his staff to help achieve his goals for the business. Steve, one of Minoprio’s first employees, has been working for the business for 3.5 years and is now Innovision Boats’ fit-out manager, while Chris has been Fabrication Manager for two years.
Minoprio reckons the team brings as much passion to produce an amazing product as he does, which is evident in the workmanship in each and every boat.
“The Boat Show awards are an achievement all the staff are extremely proud of,” says Miniprio.
It took 10 years to build the first 50 Innovision Boats, but I suspect it won’t take very long at all for the next 50.
Congratulations Simon Minoprio and Innovision Boats. Here’s to the next 10 years.
