Situated 50m from Seaview Marina and located within the busy Marine Industrial area of Wellington, Hakes Marine has been purposely set up for the production of composite racing yachts. The shed offers 1200sqm of factory floor space and offices to cater for running the company and project management. The shed also boasts a very steep and high pitched roof which enables both heavy lifts and good ground clearance for rolling entire yachts and keel fits inside. Hakes Marine also has a boat trailer which works in conjunction with Seaview Marina to bring boats into and out of the shed.

The facility has a large 70ft oven for large component cooks (like hull shells) and also has the ability to be compartmentalized for small component post curing. The oven is capable of curing components at over 90 deg C and is powered by an 186KW furnace. When a more efficient laminating system other than a high temperature prepreg is called for, Hakes Marine has a state of the art ‘wet out machine’ for accurate saturation of dry reinforcements with liquid epoxy resins. A real time quality control system is used in conjunction with the wet out machine to ensure that a strict weight control of the laminate is maintained. Air supply for two-pot epoxy priming and urethane painting is passed through a condenser and filter system to remove moisture and contaminates for the perfect paint job.

Of all the equipment that a boat yard has to offer, none of it works without the boat builder. It is the staff that makes the team to build the yacht. It is a small and experienced team at Hakes Marine that have worked on some of the worlds greatest yachting projects, from Walley Boats to Americas Cup Yachts, the experience and skill per head in the team is huge. If they are not boat builders that have traveled the world accumulating years of experience, they are gun yachtsman that race both keelboats and dinghies on an amateur and part time professional level. Even the boat builder’s labourers and apprentices have come into the team with a passion to learn and work with the best and build the best.

As well as trying new technologies within the composite world and adopting them into standard processes when proven, the essence of the composite work at Hakes Marine is based on proven and reliable technology and the best raw materials. Certainly when it comes to resins, glues, paints, cores and reinforcements careful consideration is given to the brands with regards to reputation and quality performance. Being a member of the New Zealand MIA means that every yacht has a workmanship guarantee, something taken very seriously when it comes to people racing across oceans.