in the industry<\/a> for more than two decades.<\/p>\nHe said showcasing Marra Marine\u2019s first custom-built vessel at the Auckland Boat Show was a \u201cmassive dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be part of the bigger industry in terms of the new build market, it\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Kae\u0101]()
Kae\u0101 was a 20-month build and completely built in Tauranga.<\/p>\n
Tim said it would be \u201ccool\u201d to be among other boat builders he had known for a long time, who were well respected.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means something to know that we can stand on our own two feet and produce a product like I\u2019ve been doing for many years with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim said he was feeling \u201cfairly positive\u201d about the anticipated response of the Kae\u0101 at the boat show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be other production boats similar, but Kae\u0101 will stand alone and hopefully, with that, we\u2019ll get some good traction. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want my last 25 years of blood, sweat, and tears to go to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vessel was designed by Bill Upfold, who is the principal designer at Elite Marine Design.<\/p>\n
The owner wanted a timeless classic-looking vessel that could get him to Marlborough Sounds from Wellington or Picton in an hour from the marina.<\/p>\n
![\"Elite]()
Elite Kae\u0101, designed by Bill Upfold, is the first custom build from Marra Marine, a Tauranga business established by Tim and Maddie Marra. Photo \/ Geoff Cox<\/p>\n
The boat needed to cruise at 27 knots, have only two cabins, large open living spaces and an open cockpit for fishing. <\/p>\n
He said the initial construction drawings took several months, and the complete design evolved over the entire build with minor tweaks and smaller detail drawings.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike everything, there is some trade-off; it\u2019s all about getting the balance right.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the Kae\u0101\u2019s styling allowed him to incorporate a \u201cfine entry\u201d for good seakeeping performance and a decreasing vee to ensure easy planning. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy sedan boats are sportier in aesthetics, but Kae\u0101s owner was after a more sedate classic style with a shippy feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upfold said Marra Marine was great to work alongside and never lost sight of the end goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest thing with these custom builds is the partnership between the owner, designer and builder, all striving for the same thing, creating and realising the dream.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The vessel needed to cruise at 27 knots, have only two cabins, large open living spaces and an open cockpit for fishing. Photo \/ Geoff Cox<\/p>\n
New Zealand Marine executive director Peter Busfield said Tauranga had a \u201clong and proud\u201d history of boat building.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom Tauranga, boaties have access to the Mercury Bay Islands and some of New Zealand\u2019s best recreational fishing grounds, which further strengthens demand for marine services.\u201d<\/p>\n
Busfield said Elite Designs by Bill Upfold were amongst the most highly regarded custom boats built in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cElite only works with accredited boat builders, so it\u2019s a real feather in the cap for Marra Marine to have built their first Elite. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe future is very optimistic for Tauranga\u2019s marine sector.\u201d <\/p>\n
Kaitlyn Morrell<\/a> is a journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In-water displays will span 1.3 kilometres along the waterfront at Jellicoe Harbour and Wynyard Wharf. Kae\u0101, which means…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1975,51,5532,3269,138,46527,35142,1888,19635,168985,111,139,69,1305,37865,61],"class_list":["post-310156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-at","tag-auckland","tag-boat","tag-build","tag-business","tag-custom","tag-debut","tag-first","tag-marine","tag-marra","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-show","tag-taurangas","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}