74 | MARINE Careys Bay Marine Services Piling barge adds scope to boatyard T T Virginia Wright Clients of Careys Bay Boatyard are largely commercial – trawlers, fishing or crayfishing boats. For all your engineering requirements • No job too big or small 0800 2 SITEWELD or 03 477 9339 www.siteweld.co.nz Eldon Donaldson grew up around boats in Northland and while he always enjoyed fishing and going out on boats it took him a few moves around the country, from Tauranga to the West Coast, before he bought his current business in Careys Bay Dunedin. He bought the business off Richard Taylor in 2016 and changed its name from Careys Bay Slipways to Careys Bay Marine Services; before that it was Miller and Tonnage, which is all to say that in one form or another the business has been around for 100 years or more. “Miller and Tonnage built a lot of boats in their time that came here for servicing and repairing but it’s not really viable now, with skills so hard to come by. “Now we slip boats so people can work on them on the dry, or get contractors in to work on them, so we facilitate it really,” says Eldon. Eldon’s boat clients are largely commercial, and whether they’re trawlers, fishing or crayfish boats, or in-shore fishing boats he sees a sector under-pressure, not helped by Covid, so he came up with a way to reduce his overheads while still providing the services they need. The restructure happened over Easter earlier this year with the reduction of staff from 14 to three. The engineers, the fibre-glass boat builders, wooden boat builders, painters and so on that worked as part of a one-stop-shop for non-trailerable boats up to 100 tonne (around 23m), now do the work as contractors once the boats are in position and ready to go. Along with the restructure comes a new income stream for Careys Bay Marine Services which began about 12 months ago when Eldon had a piling barge built by Siteweld in Dunedin to do some pile repairs in Dunedin Harbour. Essentially a barge with a big mast on it that can ram piles into the sea floor it’s been in constant use ever since. “A lot of the structures around the harbour are getting old, and there’s always stuff happening like boats running into them and breaking them or storms come up, or worms eat them,” explains Eldon. Careys Bay Boatyard still pulls the boats out of the water, leases the slip, and where necessary provides an introduction between the owners and the contractors needed to do the work, including to the various outfits such as Boat Repairs Otago and Otago Marine Painters Ltd, who lease space in the building. “They work on the boats, so that’s the Careys Bay Boatyard side of things” says Eldon, “then Careys Bay Marine Services does the marine structures and piling that need repairs or support. We did piles for the Deborah Bay Marina Walkway and replaced piles for Port Otago in the Careys Bay Marina. There’s lots of little things around the harbour needing new piles or repairs such as reconditioning the pontoons at Back Beach past Port Chalmers where the boat ramps are. It’s quite a specialist job but it’s not really that complicated if you’re used to the water and you’ve got the gear to do it.” Eldon clearly fits that bill given that Careys Bay Boatyard has its own marine structures that need careful maintenance including eight berths used by a mix of recreational and commercial boats, four wharves, and five slipways with rails, two of which come up inside the workshop. As there’s no shortage of boats needing to be slipped, along with the space to get repairs done, Eldon’s looking at expanding the size and number of his wharves while at the same time increasing the piling barge size of the business. After six years in the business he’s developed a good sense of how to provide the marine industry the services it needs while giving him the opportunity to mess about on the water just as he’s enjoyed doing since he was a kid. Careys Bay Boatyard has berths used by a mix of recreational and commercial boats, four wharves, and five slipways with rails, two of which come up inside the workshop.
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