McLay boat cruises off with prizes

Milton boat-builder Steve McLay holds the trophies for best aluminium fishing boat open class and...
Milton boat-builder Steve McLay holds the trophies for best aluminium fishing boat open class and overall winner which the McLay 735S craft won at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show in Auckland. Photo by Rachel Taylor.
It is shaping up as a bumper year for Milton boat-builder Steve McLay.

After laying off five staff members in February last year as recession fears hit the marine industry, Mr McLay recently reversed the process and hired four workers.

Then, last week, his McLay 735S boat was named overall winner at the Hutchwilco New Zealand Boat Show in Auckland.

Mr McLay said he had been exhibiting at the show for about 20 years and while he had entered six times, this was the first time he had won.

Although he had hoped to win the aluminium fishing boat open category, when he saw some of the opposition boats he was not sure McLay Boats would win anything.

"We were happy to get the open class category, and stunned to win the overall."

Mr McLay described 2009 as being "a year of two halves," with the start very quiet.

"In the heyday [2006], we were producing between 180 and 200 boats each year," he said.

Last year, McLay Boats only produced 135, forcing him to scale back his workforce from 22 fulltime staff to 17.

After the boat show in May last year, business began to pick up again.

He rehired one of the redundant staff members in June, and a second in August, with another two in January and March.

He had noticed the market shifting over the past year, he said.

While there were still a good number of entry-level craft being built, the market was leaning towards larger boats.

Mr McLay said he expected to produce more than 150 boats this year, and recently took an order for 10 from an Australian dealer.

"Now that we've got this market, it's keeping us busy."

rachel.taylor@odt.co.nz

 

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