Chuck
& Sandy Ives
Owners Of Sea Otter 41' Narrowboat Moondancer
This month, we have taken delivery of a new 40' Sea Otter narrowboat.
We thought that it would be beneficial to tell our story of the
decisions and build porgramme that lead to our new boat.
Our first boat was an old 46' steel narrowboat called "Jessica"
which over a period of many months we spent all our leisure time
trying to make smart and something we could be proud of. Soon
after finishing Jessica (do you ever finish a steel boat?), we
had a trip out and shared the visitors moorings at Sawley with
a couple who owned a 26' Sea Otter narrowboat. Our tale leading
to this months delivery of our new boat started that day. The
couple we met were so proud of their 26 footer and of Sea Otters
generally, they promptly showed us around and from that moment
we had been converted to Sea Otter's family.
Later the same night, after meeting our first Sea Otter owners,
we decided that we should sometime in the future, when finances
allowed, try and buy a Sea Otter. The seed was firmly planted
that fateful day, and not long afterwards, I was suprised to receive
an offer to buy Jessica from a virtual stranger. With Jessica
sold, we promptly scanned the waterway magazines and internet
sites looking to buy a Sea Otter.
Our trail led us to make the acquaintance of Walton Marine and
in particular that of Lee Gibbons who had for a sale a pre-owned
31' Sea Otter called "Karian". Lee must have been suprised
by the speed of the sale, because within in the hour, hands had
been shook and deposits left. Karian was the first of the 31's
produced by Sea Otter and she was everything we had hoped for.
A couple of years later, despite continuing to work full time,
we decided that we would devote more time to our boating and Karian
took us on a couple of enjoyable trips in 2005. The boating and
Sea Otter bug was firmly embedded.
Whilst owning Karian, we had established a good relationship
with Paul Hobson and the rest of the Sea Otter staff at Staveley.
Amazingly, they also appeared to like us, despite some of the
stupid questions I had asked during our time owning Karian.
We, like other Sea Otter owners, attended many of their shows
and had made admiring glances at their 41' range of narrowboats.
It was after our last cruise in August 2005 that we decided to
go the whole hog and buy a new boat, which we could commision
by choosing the layout, colour and fitments from the Sea Otter
range. A quick phone call to Lee at Walton Marine and a part exchance
price for Karian was agreed. Another problem loomed, as our home
mooring of Derby Motor Boat Club had a 40' length restriction
and Sea Otter only produced a 41'. A quick phone call to Paul
Hobson at the factory put our minds at rest as his "no problem"
answer re-assured us and the deal was struck.
When could we have it was our next question. 6 months was the
reply as we have a fully factory order book. Now being imptatient,
6 months seemed a lifetime away but for our own new Sea Otter
we could wait. Suprisingly, Lee from Walton agreed that he would
travel to meet us at the factory and we could complete the paperwork,
and deal direct with Paul and his team on the new boat, as we
lived just down the road from the factory. This sums up the Sea
Otter ethics in which everyone from the most junior member of
the factory team to Ray and Paul at the factory and Lee at Walton
Marine who all work hard to make everything as smooth and trouble
free as possible for the owners and future owners of Sea Otters.
The interior designs were easily agreed, as we wanted to repeat
the inside layout of Karian, but with the added extra luxury of
a fixed double bedroom, central heating, and the grand daddy of
all boys toys, a bow thruster! The exterior colour scheme and
interior fabrics were to be agreed at a later date, as we believe,
even Paul and Lee did not like to see a mature couple disagree
and argue of the coule of the curtain tie backs. Time quickly
passes, and we were pleased to accept an invitation from Sea Otter
and the owner's club for a factory visit in November, which was
being organised as a winters get together for existing owners.
We were treated to a factory tour by Ray Shepherd, and during
the tour, there on the factory floor was the beginnings of our
new boat! The day for us was complete, everything was becoming
real, although the other visitors must have thought we were mad
to lovingly stroke a few sheets of aluminium as they munched away
on the excellent food provided after the factory tour.
Christmas came and went, and suddenly, we had to firm up on exterior
colours, interior colours and even the name of the new boat. Many
hours were spent in discussion (this is how my wife describes
it) and BT increased their profits as we sought advice from Paul
and Lee. The name came first and "Moondancer" was chosen,
along with exterior colour of blue (which I am reliably told is
the new green) and finally the interior fabrics. Another visit
to the factory was arranged to meet Lee and Paul, endless books
of fabrics was offered and like most couples, my wife made the
executive decision (after I was reminded I had the bow thruster
to play with). Like impatient children, we then went to look at
the boat and there it was was, risen from the few sheets of aluminium
we had seen in November and now looking like a real Sea Otter.
This gave us the opportunity to meet the men working on Moondancer,
and Clyde who carried out the majority of the interior work showed
us the new bathroom designs of "wet walling" and this
was quickly added to our final design. Again we were struck by
the helpfulness and friendship offered by everyone working on
our boat, surely this is the reason why Sea Otter's reputation
is held so high by those in the know plus their undoubted attention
to detail and quality which makes their boats the standard leaders
on the canal.
February soon came, and the build progressed smoothly, until
the fateful day arrived and "Moondancer" was delivered
bang on schedule and exactly as we had ordered. The boat was quickly
launched by crane onto the water, and a thorough guidance was
given by Lee, before Paul and myself set off from Shardlow to
take the boat for the first time to it's new home. After a few
pirouettes whilst I tried my new bow thruster and half an hours
cruise we arrived at Derby Motor Boat Club. Are we happy? We have
not stopped grinning yet (3 weeks after!). Is the boat all we
hoped? Its better! Sea Otter have continued with their programme
of continuous improvements and on Moondancer all we can say is
THANK YOU!!!
Chuck & Sandy Ives
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