The Yard Continues

 

Today, Weir Quay Boatyard is a vibrant, profitable, modern yard providing traditional crafts and professional services of the highest standards. 

 

It is a thriving business in a remote rural community, generating employment and business opportunities for local people.

 

 

When Mike and Lisa Hooton bought the Boatyard in 1999, they didn’t see the scale of their undertaking.  The fabric of the Yard, workshop and plant had lacked investment for many years. 

 

First they created an office and chandlery above the workshop, providing a focus for the customers and management of the Yard. 

The Yard was cleared of sundry sheds, shacks, portacabins and forgotten yachts and cruisers.  The ground was levelled and made good.  Walls were reinstated and boundaries re-built.

The workshop was completely re-furbished bringing it up to modern professional standards and compliant with health and safety at work requirements.

A new storage and finishing shed was erected of timber frame and insulated timber cladding by AI Buildings.

The steel framed building was extended to incorporate a timber frame house, half timber clad and hung with local Delabole slates, with hardwood windows designed and made by the fine joiners, Munby & Lewis.

A new berthing pontoon was installed and new timber jetties erected to the north and south sides of the slipway.

 

The boat handling practices were completely changed with the introduction of a 20-ton Roodberg hydraulic transporter.   And nearly every item of Yard plant and equipment has been renewed in the last 5 years.  That same period has seen a comprehensive programme of renewal and refurbishment of the mooring stock and tackle.

 

The Yard is now in good order.  The work of improvement will never stop, but the Yard today compared with the Yard in 1999 is about as different as cheese from chalk.