About Us
Tonys Marine Service (TMS) was established in 1992 by Tony Hodges after spending several years working at Coleraine Boat Yard, situated in the heart of Coleraine on the River Bann. Tony started working at Coleraine Boat Yard aged 16 and soon became an experience mechanic and water sports enthusiast. After a number of years he began to lease the workshop and run it independently from the rest of the Boat Yard. Tony strived being self-employed and expanded his business by purchasing himself a premises just outside the town. It would be on this same site that TMS would stay until today after many years of success and development.
Tony started off working by himself at his new workshop premises and soon earned a good reputation and a large customer base. He employed a second mechanic and business started to boom, thanks to the growing interest in the leisure industry and boating in Northern Ireland. In 2003, after 11 years of success, Tony embarked on a new project with support from Invest NI to construct a purpose-built workshop facility on the site. The new facility was completed by Christmas of the same year containing a workshop capable of holding up to 4 boats, an engine re-build room, an office, a store and a staff area. The old workshop was also renovated and converted to a shop and office.
The new facilities boosted the workload capacity and efficiency of TMS and business continued to grow. The work load expanded from a purely private customer base to include public sector and private contracts with large companies in Northern Ireland. The growth of the business also resulted in the birth of a new boat sales company called Xtreme Boat Sales (XBS) in 2004. The new company gained the sole trading rights for Glastron Boats, manufactured in USA, for the whole of Ireland. The company took the boats to display at the Dublin Boat Show the following year and gained huge interest due to their excellent customer service, product and competitive pricing.
Now in 2010 both TMS and XBS continue to grow and improve despite tough market conditions. TMS continues to gain new customers on a weekly basis and now offers a full range of services, from basic maintenance to a complete package including servicing, winterisation, storage, valet, launching and recovery and customisation. XBS in 2010 gained sole trader rights in Ireland for another boat brand, Campion Boats, manufactured in Canada. XBS and TMS also have paired up with Flood Marine in Omagh to expand its sales capability to include Yamaha Outboard Engines and Warrior Fishing Boats. XBS also sells Mastercraft Performance Boats on behalf of Mastercraft Ireland. The chandlery shop at TMS is also in continual grown and development to hopefully become a fully stocked shop for all your boating needs.
