A 25-year birthday for a New Zealand-built superyacht turned into a sort of homecoming, when she was recently fully refitted in Tauranga.
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 50m-long shed at Super Yacht Coatings, having a full interior and exterior refit.
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.
“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. 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 a different colour, too: her original dark blue hull is now a glistening stark white, with a silver bootstrap.
“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,” says Super Yacht Coatings’ general manager Ben Steele. “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 square metre 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.
