Located in Gabador Place, Mt Wellington, just five minutes off the motorway and conveniently close to Sylvia Park Mall, Tamaki Marine Park will be Auckland’s newest and most modern marine precinct once construction is completed later this year.

The area already has an established marine presence, with boat builders McMullen and Wing and Chris McMullen on the site’s southern boundary and the Rayglass Boats service centre next-door to the north.

Being located only five minutes off Auckland’s southern motorway, with easy access enroute to the shops at Sylvia Park Mall, it’s perfectly positioned for pre-departure provisioning or as somewhere to drop off the family while doing odd jobs on the boat. Once at Tamaki Marine Park, there is plenty of secure parking and once the lines are thrown off, Browns Island is only 30 minutes’ leisurely run down the picturesque Tamaki River estuary. The wonderful anchorages, fishing and cruising grounds of Waiheke Island and beyond are then just a short hop across the channel.

Tamaki Marine Park’s existing 260-boat dry stack facility accommodates boats from 4m up 12m in length and is home to many popular locally-produced boats, ranging from small outboard driven runabouts to Rayglass 3500s and 12m Protector RIBs, for example.

Two years ago, a 30-berth marina was constructed on the river taking over riverbank where a bulk storage facility once stood. This marina offers a safe, idyllic haven on the Tamaki River for mainly motorboats ranging in length from 12–28m to berth. The marina will be extended further this year, increasing the number of berths by 25%.

Tamaki Marine Park already provides a number of services to boat owners in their marina and from elsewhere, including haul-out, water blast and hardstand facilities for vessels up to 60 tonnes, courtesy of a new Roodberg haul-out trailer. They can service motor yachts, catamarans and sailing yachts (as long as masts have been removed – there is an air draft restriction of 7.8m at MHWS due to being upriver of the Panmure and Pakaranga road bridges). Additionally, a petrol and diesel refuelling service in partnership with GOfuel is available.

A major new marine precinct complex is currently under construction replacing the site once occupied by an old tank farm. During the development of this marine precinct, significant efforts have gone into the design to rejuvenate this section of riverfront land, giving it a new lease of life.

Works have begun with concrete already being poured and construction underway of two large sheds, a massive 840m2 canopied undercover boat yard area with 10.5m clearance, and seven ‘trade units’. In total, the new precinct will offer 2000m2 of undercover boat storage space, along with a huge expanse of uncovered hardstand area and clean, level concrete yard area.

The two biggest sheds, fitted with 10.5m high doors, are attractive to businesses that work on large boats under cover. The larger 606m2 shed has already been snapped up by boat painter Gloss Boats and will include a modern spray booth, paint tinting booth and filtration systems, while the second boat shed, 450m2 in size, will be occupied by boatbuilder CMS.

The seven ‘trade units’ are also going fast, with HMB Marine Electrical among the first to lease space in the development. Other marine businesses, such as outboard and diesel mechanics, marine upholsterers or similar – are being sought for the remaining units.

A standard trade unit size is 6m x 18m but there is some flexibility in unit size and configuration giving the option to create larger units to suit tenant requirements. Each trade unit has been designed specifically for marine businesses, including high roller doors for boat access, fibre connection, power, water, and the ability to fit out the units as required.

Completion date for the project is set for December 2021.

The intention, says Operations Manager Martin Hannon, is to create Auckland’s newest boating hub, offering a full range of services, including engineering, boat building, boat painting, marine electricians, outboard and diesel mechanics, sail makers, canopies, upholsterers and more – marine trades of every kind.

“With our can-do, customer-focussed attitude, our aim is to become Auckland’s leading marine precinct, offering the best facilities and the best people to support passionate boaties,” says Hannon.