Darryl Hodson says it was devastating watching his 53 foot launch torn to pieces as a salvage team hauled it from the water in Mount Maunganui on Thursday afternoon.

Darryl Hodson looks on in disbelief as his $650,000 boat is demolished. He talks to SunLive on camera about the night of the collision and the experience of seeing the launch pulled apart before his eyes.

He was onboard the boat with his 75 year old father and a friend when it struck rocks on Tuesday night.

Darryl says he still can't remember everything from the time of the collision and believes he must have fallen asleep as the boat crept toward a reef near Rabbit Island.

When he realised the boat was slowly sinking, he drove it in to shore so it didn't sink in deep water.

The trio were nearing the end of a voyage that started in Fiji where Darryl spends six months of the year managing a five star resort with his wife.

The launch, named Paradise, cleared customs in Opua on Monday and travelled toward Tauranga early Tuesday morning.

Paradise had 600 litres of diesel inside its tank and a further 600 litres of spare fuel stored in containers when the boat became beached.

Darryl's main concern was the environmental impact the wreck could have and is thankful none of the fuel leaked into the ocean during the salvage operation.

However, he had no control over the salvage and believes the way it has been run is a 'fiasco”.

'It's an absolute circus. They've trashed it. I had no say in the matter.”

He advised the harbour master on Wednesday morning that the best way to rescue the boat was to place lift bags under the bow and use a travel lift to transport it to the Bridge Marina.

Instead a digger was used to tear the launch apart so it could be hauled out in pieces.

'I can't believe how they've gone about this. They've smashed the bow; it looks a lot worse than it was.”

'With the hole it has now, we would have gone down in 30 seconds, anyone would vouch for that.”