| 55 MARINE Top of The South Marine Where do you want your business to go next? Your accounts explain the past. We help you plan the way forward. Bring your future forward. 18 New Street, Nelson | 03 548 8708 frenchlastharris.co.nz Top THesOUTH MARine oF BOATBUILDERS HAVELOCK, MARLBOROUGH Boat Building Repairs & Maintenance • Marine Coatings • New Builds • Boat Restoration & Repaints • Complete Vessel Management P: 027 282 8339 E: totsmarinecoatings@gmail.com W: totsmarine.co.nz A Journey of Quality and Craftsmanship T T Rosa Watson Restoring boats to their former glory The company specialises in high-end paint jobs, repairs and maintenance. With a business built on quality and craftsmanship, Top Of the South (TOTS) Marine is providing top-level marine services to the Marlborough region. The Havelock-based company, established in 2020 by Greg McDonald and his wife Keely, offers a wide range of marine services from its purpose-built facility at Havelock. For Greg, owning and restoring boats is a passion, and he brings 35 years’ experience in the boat-building industry to the business, starting at age 15 working after school at Jack Guard’s boat yard in Nelson. He then moved to Picton to take up a boat-building apprenticeship at Carey’s Boat Yard where he worked for 20 years. TOTS Marine was established following a move to Wellington in 2020 to work on construction of the East by West Ferries electric passenger ferry, Ika Rere Once the project was completed, the pair found themselves busy doing boat maintenance, repairs and painting at Seaview Marina in Wellington. “This led to employing two more staff members,” says Keely. At the end of 2024, Greg and Keely purchased Sounds Shipwright Services and took over as Top of the South Marine in January 2025. Today, the company is a purpose-built boat-maintenance and painting facility with five staff. The team includes experienced marine and automotive painters, boat builders and apprentices, as well as “emotional support dogs” Tui and Harry. “We have a great team here at TOTS that all work together to achieve a high standard of work,” Keely says. “Our goal is to make slipping and getting work done on your boat as stressless as possible. We aim to communicate with our customers regularly to keep them informed of progress on their project.” The company specialises in high-end paint jobs, repairs and maintenance. It also offers boat building, fibreglass repairs, copper coat application, Propspeed coatings, marine/ industrial coatings, antifouling services, and Boat Dek flooring installation. A chandlery store provides a one-stop-shop for customers. “Not only can we do repairs to boats, but we can retrieve the boat from the marina and deliver to the yard, and once work is completed we can return the boat back to its berth,” Keely says. “This service is well-utilised by our out-oftown customers.” Another service available is pre-purchase inspections and insurance reports. The Havelock facility is an 800sqm purpose-built, temperature-controlled building that allows the team to work all year round without disruptions from the weather. Its paint spray booth and workshop areas can both accommodate boats up to 20m in length. A 3000sqm hardstand area allows for several boats to be accommodated at any one time. There is also a slipway less than 50m from the yard to slip boats up to 22m in length and up to 70 ton. While the company’s main customer base is private boat owners, around 10% of the work comes from the commercial sector, Keely says. “Antifouling and boat grooming is particularly busy leading up to the summer. We also have a wait list for repaints.” A recent stand-out project the team is particularly proud of is a full repaint and repair on a classic boat called Corinna, she says. “She came into the yard in need of a lot of TLC, and left looking like new.” Greg and Keely have reinvested in the infrastructure and have upgraded equipment, which Keely says is starting to provide benefits. “When we came here, we could only accommodate five boats with our trailers at a time. Last year we purchased a travel lift trailer, which has allowed us to bring many more boats out for repairs and maintenance.” She says the company is looking to increase the boat-building side of the business. “We want to be building custom-built, glass over ply boats that are built to last.”
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