Amanda of Ladram- new gillnetter for Waterdance Ltd

The new Amanda of Ladram PW-6, is an innovation in gillnetter design built by Parkol Marine Engineering of Whitby for Waterdance Ltd.

Waterdance Ltd is a fishing company based in Devon and Cornwall in south-west England who operate a fleet of 22 varied vessels ranging from inshore day boats at Exmouth to beam trawlers at Brixham.

In recent years, Waterdance has made a massive commitment to their upgrading their fleet of fishing vessels and in the process, they have sought out the best boat builders and designers.

“The Amanda of Ladram is our sixth netter fishing from Newlyn. We are continuing to invest in what have been challenging times for the UK fishing industry with confidence that demand for our high-quality fresh products will rebound as the economy improves,” Martyn Youell Senior Manager of Fisheries and Quota at Waterdance Ltd told our editor Oliver McBride.

“Waterdance’s strategy of investing to modernise our fleet has seen three new build vessels delivered since May 2019, says Martyn. “These are a crabber, the Nichola of Ladram, the beam trawler Georgina of Ladram and now the Amanda of Ladram, representing the diverse fisheries we are involved in.

“We also completed the refit to whelking of the former Reliance II, which became the Kelly of Ladram earlier this year.”

The new Amanda of Ladram will mainly operate from Newlyn, where she will join the company’s gillnetting fleet which lands hake, haddock, monk, turbot and other mixed species.

The new boat will operate with a crew of six and will be skippered John Walsh who has been with Waterdance Ltd for over 10 years. Under normal conditions the boat is expected to complete trips of between three to six days.

After completing sea trials at Whitby, the Amanda off Ladram headed for Newlyn, arriving mid-April and got to work immediately.

The first trip was on 19 April, landing 4.5 tonnes of hake and raising £550 for the Fishermen’s Mission as the fish was bought by Greendale Farm Shop near Exeter, part of the group of companies Waterdance belongs to. In addition, Brixham Trawler Agents matched the value of the fish in a donation and Parkol Marine gave £200.

The new vessel is British built at Parkol Marine Engineering and designed by the well-respected draughtsman, Ian Paton.

The hull of the Amanda of Ladram is based on the hull of the Reliance III BF 800, which Parkol Marine had built for Banff skippers John Clark and David Clark.

Aside from the most notable differences, the wheelhouse is of a new modern design with a rounded-roof and big windows.

Under the waterline the decision was made to install a large propellor. The variable-pitch propellor will allow the skipper to have greater control over hauling rather than having a fixed propellor.

“We decided quite earlier on that she would have to have variable-pitch because if it was fixed-pitch she would be in and out of gear a lot because they are only hauling the gillnets at one or two knots,” explains Ian.

The Reliance III herself was a brand-new innovative design by Ian. Now, that design has been taken from a twin-rig trawler and converted into the next generation of gillnetter.

“We are proud to be building boats in the UK and have been impressed with the service provided by Parkol and the finished product,” says Martyn.

Parkol Marine Engineering produced the 20-metre gillnetter under difficult conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is the first vessel that we have built for Waterdance. The vessel was started just before lockdown 2020 and it was a challenge getting back on track after a period of shutdown, but thanks to the hard work of our team here at Parkol, we delivered it on time,” said Sally Atkinson, Project Manager at Parkol Marine.

Vessel Details

The Amanda of Ladram is described as a steel-hulled motor fishing vessel of round bilge, transom stern, bulbous bow, soft nose stem and with full length shelter, arranged for static gear gill netting, fitted with a fishroom, and manned by a crew of 10 men.

Below deck is subdivided by three watertight bulkheads into: aft accommodation with steering gear, engine room, hold and forepeak. The main deck has an amidships steel galley, mess and washroom casing. Net hauling position at starboard, forward. 15 net ponds aft. Shelter is non-weathertight, aluminium. Aluminium, aft wheelhouse, and mast.

Engine Room

The Amanda of Ladram is powered by a Volvo Penta D16 MH (650HP) 1800rpm main engine which generates a maximum power of 484kW. The main engline is coupled to a Nogva Heimdal CPP-HG389S gearbox which turns a 4-bladed bronze 2300mm diameter propellor.

The new boat can deliver a top-speed of 10 knots. 

The auxiliary engines are Volvo Penta and consist of 2 x D5A-BTA delivering a maximum power of 100kV at 1500rpm.