The voyage of Richardson Marine began with a love of boats, fishing, diving, and the South-West Victorian Coastline.
While Ed Richardson’s nautical passion was apparent from a very young age, it has been in the last 20 years that he has made it his craft. Ed wanted to build a boat for himself – for the Southern Ocean. What started as qualifying as an aluminium fabricator and boat builder led to employment in South Australia working on the fabrication of some of the most respected plate alloy boats for the recreational and commercial market.
From there Richardson Marine was born – back home in Warrnambool, building totally individually customised plate aluminium boats and trailers, with a primary focus on build strength and quality, along with the right design for a quality ride in our unpredictable seas.
And yes, finally, this included Ed building himself a boat! Although he’s lost count since that first one – as one of the aspects of Richardson Marine’s success has been a constant quest for improvement – improvements Ed takes seriously and tests for himself.
The Seacruiser brand was a natural progression from custom-building, essentially creating a range of standard hulls and configurations – still with customised fit-outs, and still with the same focus on build quality, strength, and design.
Every good boat needs a good engine, and Richardson Marine are proud to be a sole Suzuki Marine dealer. An engine brand doesn’t have the slogan "The Ultimate Outboard Motor " without good reason.
Moving to its current premises at 1056 Raglan Parade, Warrnambool, in 2010, Richardson Marine has a very busy service department – with a team dedicated to servicing all makes and models of engines, boat and trailer maintenance and repairs, as well as customisations, fit-outs such as electronics, anchor winches, boatcatches, rod holders, engine re-powers, and all aluminium fabrication including hard-tops, pods, and more.
Richardson Marine has carefully chosen brands to complement the local market and conditions in the South-West.
Stabicraft Marine, a New Zealand builder of plate aluminium chambered boats for the recreational and commercial fisherman, are a well known market leader. Stabicraft says "Adventure With Confidence " and the quality of their boats allow this to happen. While their range features some smaller, sub-5m models, the boats that have really taken the South-West Victorian market by storm have been the "Supercab " models from 5.6m and up, which offer protection from the elements via their hardtop, unrivalled stability and safety, while recent improvements in their pontoon design give a ride quality that has to be experienced to be believed. They do say the Kiwis have welding ability ingrained in their DNA, and it’s difficult to argue against this when you see the workmanship in a Stabicraft boat.
In 2021, Richardson Marine added Quintrex to their lineup due to popular demand. Quintrex sits on a 75 year strong history of boat building in Australia. The reputation built by Quintrex over the years has been legendary. Quintrex offers a massive range of boats, from tiny three metre tinnies to seven metre aluminium beasts. Start of the art technology and innovation has brought Quintrex to the front line of hull development in 2021. The range of Quintrexs at Richardson Marine has proved incredibly popular, with an extensive and varied range on display.
Polycraft Boats are a low maintenance, virtually unbreakable, polyethylene construction vessel. They have models ranging from a 3.0m "Tuffy " to a 5.99m serious offshore option, which are available in up to 8 different colours. If you are looking for a new boat, they are definitely worth a look and if you speak to anyone who has either been in one or owns one, you will hear nothing but high praise. Readily able to go in to survey, they also suit a range of commercial applications.
Anglapro Boats build high-quality aluminium boats specialising in the 4m to 5m size, although they do have a lighter weight range of tinnies including your "car topper " style. Their strength is in their "X-Core " construction, and when put alongside their competition in this category, the "Sabre " hull with it’s 3mm bottom and sides, extra ribbing support and build quality is noticeable – and they really do sell themselves.
Garmin Marine are a world-leading marine electronics brand, their quality and fierce quest to constantly develop and improve the technologies available to boaters and be a market leader in this field, has meant we have happily chosen them as our sole supplier of marine electronics. Our team are all happily running Garmin electronics in all their boats, and as such are able and willing to help our customers get the most out of theirs. Garmin’s slogan is "The power of simple ", and while today’s technology in some of the units is mind-blowing, the actual user interface is very "layman-friendly ".
Richardson Marine can also arrange finance through "Suzuki Marine Finance " for customer purchases, all done on site.
In-store at Richardson Marine’s "Tackle Shack ", you will also find a range of fishing tackle and boating accessories, hand-picked to suit the area and predominant local fishing requirements. The Tackle Shack is also home to the largest range of Yeti drinkware, outdoor gear and apparel in the south-west; a brand which is exponentially growing in popularity each season!
The freshest bait in the South-west is located in our freezer and available to enhance your chances of catching a fish, along with our famous minus-eleven degree flake ice from our ice machine, with a hint of salt water to reduce it’s freezing temperature, hence staying frozen longer to keep you catch, or your beverages, colder, for longer.
Our close-knit team are all fishers and boaters themselves, and as such take great pride in making sure the on-water experiences of our customers are second to none.
We look forward to our marine voyage continuing, and we hope you’ll join our convoy!
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