The Boat Works looks to expand as more luxury yachts call Gold Coast home

Plans for more super sheds to store an influx of super yachts are being fast tracked as one of the Gold Coast’s veteran business families capitalises on the luxury boating bonanza.

The Boat Works on the Gold Coast.

Travel-starved Australians are ploughing their spare cash into the purchase and maintenance of boats with shipyard owners and marine operators enjoying unprecedented demand.

Just one year after opening a $100 million, 25-acre superyacht yard on the Gold Coast in Queensland, The Boat Works which services vessels from five metres to 50 metre plus superyachts has reached capacity, with slipways and sheds booked out months in advance.

The boom has pushed owner Tony Longhurst, scion of the Gold Coast’s wealthy Longhurst family, to bring forward development of Stage 4 which involves the construction of five new super sheds to accommodate more 40-metre plus vessels at the busy site.

The Boat Works on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

“It is electric...we would have $300 million worth of boats here and 1000 people on site on any one day,” Mr Longhurst said.

“We have become the Bunnings of the marine industry...we are a cross between Bunnings and McDonalds, it’s the volume we are doing.”

Longhurst said unlike some marine facilities, The Boatworks is a clean, environmentally-safe facility offering food outlets, laundries and even stunning gardens.

“This has become an amazing hub. Due to Covid, boat sales have gone through the roof,” he said.

The influx of foreign superyachts into Australia shows no sign of abating, driven by Australians who’ve brought “big white boats” from overseas and others who have brought home their vessels for use in local waters.

The Boat Works owner Tony Longhurst at the site. Picture: Glenn Hampson

Mr Longhurst purchased the property, which was a normal industrial type slipway for 15 boats eight years ago, buying it from his brother Rodney Longhurst.

He has been expanding ever since and today most of the yachts and motor launches the Boat Works accommodates would be worth at least $500,000 apiece.

The business is now a 55-acre site attracting boats from New Zealand, the Mediterranean and South East Asia. It offers services such as marina berths, dry marine storage, full service maintenance as well as do-it-yourself maintenance facilities.

The Boat Works sheds on the Gold Coast.

But Mr Longhurst, who developed the Dreamworld theme park with his father John, said it hadn't all been smooth sailing noting lengthy negotiations with various government departments to obtain extra planning approvals to add facilities on the site including the possibility of accommodation for superyacht crew.

“The government departments make it so hard,” he said.

He also said it is difficult to acquire affordable riverfront land if he wanted to build a second slip yard. His only real competitor is Rivergate Marina up in Brisbane which carries out more than 500 haul outs a year.

“You would be crazy to (attempt to) buy a block for marine activity in Port Macquarie or in Sydney, you just can’t get the waterfront land for a good price,” he said.

Originally published as The Boat Works looks to expand as more luxury yachts call Gold Coast home