Family friendly

Kell, who along with wife Peta was brought up in the Bay, had been working overseas for more than a decade as a design engineer for oil exploration and renewable energy companies, before moving home three years ago. Keen to get back out on local waters, he and Peta were finding it increasingly difficult to fit three growing kids and all the water toys they used into their existing 5.5m Ramco tinny.

“We’d wanted a small powercat for quite a while, and when we got back to New Zealand we definitely needed a bigger boat – for a day trip, we were loading up three kayaks, five bodyboards, bean bags, camp chairs, chilly bins … we figured we needed a bit more space,” Kell says.

They turned to long-time friend, designer Rob