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Yaringa Harbour aims to be the “jewel in the crown” of Victorian marine industry

Power Equipment and the dedicated marine power of Yanmar diesels have played their part in a recent unveiling at the newly upgraded Yaringa Boat Harbour. The plans for this already bustling marina may surprise you – and promise something very good for the Victorian boating industry and community.

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It’s not every day you get to see a 75-tonne boat lifter doing its thing for the first time, but that’s exactly what happened during a somewhat auspicious launching ceremony at Yaringa Boat Harbour on the Mornington Penninsula in May this year.

Unveiling Yaringa Boat Harbour’s new Italian-made boat lift was done in conjunction with the launch of Hart Marine’s latest pilot boat build that is using Yanmar diesels, a popular choice with many pilot boat builders worldwide.

The event was attended by various local dignitaries, including politicians and Power Equipment representatives.

Whilst Power Equipment was excited to be part of such a special occasion, (and of course proud to have provided the ever-reliable Yanmar 6HYM-WET diesel engines for the Hart Marine pilot boat), the bigger story is what is planned for this once sleepy marine facility.

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Yaringa Boat Harbour’s new 75 tonne boat lift
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The new Yanmar 6HYM-WET engines powering the newest Pilot boat from Hart Marine

To understand the whole story, you probably need to look at the organisation behind Yaringa Boat Harbour, Hart Marine.

Hart Marine – leaders in composite boat building and based in Mornington for more than 40 years – knew they were out-growing their original facility and had to find a new home.

More accurately, their long-time base in Mornington had gotten too busy for them to easily do their job.

“We were basically driving pilot boat builds down the road to the Mornington Pier, then launching by crane from there,” explains Hart Marine General Manager Graeme Taylor, “and when boats have to come out of the water, sometimes that has to happen in reverse.”

“That was probably fine in the early days, but Mornington – the whole area – has developed significantly and gotten much busier. It’s becoming less viable to do that kind of thing there.”

“We want Yaringa to be the best boat storage and servicing facility in the state of Victoria,” Graeme says with measured confidence.

“Now that we have the in-water side of things sorted at the harbour, we’re looking to build a new 6,000 square metre facility to bring our entire Hart Marine boat building process to the site.”

With around 50 acres of land forming part of the Yaringa Boat Harbour onshore area however, the vision for this once run-down marina doesn’t stop there.

“There are literally hundreds of marine suppliers spread all over the south-east corridor of Melbourne,” Graeme said, “and ultimately we would like to attract a lot of them to this site.”

Waterside property with commercial zoning is difficult to get, but with the location and land available, Graeme and Hart Marine owner Mal Hart see Yaringa as potentially Victoria’s “jewel in the crown” of marine precincts. “We’ve replaced the pontoons and docks, got the new travel lifts, (including the heavy-lift 75-tonner and 38-tonne hydraulic travel trailer for wider vessels like catamarans), and we have up to 600 boats stored here at any one time,” Graeme said.

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Notwithstanding current successes and grand plans however, Graeme is circumspect about how quickly things will happen.

“It’s going to involve a lot of ongoing work as we move ahead. Even our planned new facility for Hart Marine’s boat building still has quite a bit of planning and approvals to get through.”

Things are happening however, just as surely as demand for Hart Marine ORC pilot vessels continues strongly across the globe.

“We recently finished the refurbishment of Captain Jack’s, (a jolly, quality restaurant and already popular venue for waterside dining on the Peninsula), and hope to attract other restaurants and hospitality businesses here in the future,” Graeme says with enthusiasm. In fact, says Graeme, Captain Jack’s has already proven popular with Power Equipment Chairman Allan Foster who has returned to the restaurant at least once since the launch event in May.

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Captain Jack’s restaurant at Yaringa Boat Harbour
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Find out more about what’s happening at Yaringa Boat Harbour at yaringa.com.au

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