The latest netter to join the fleet fishing from the south-west of England is Amanda of Ladram, following an extensive conversion job from its previous role as a Scottish prawn trawler. We caught up with skipper John Walsh and his crew in Newlyn as they were preparing for their first trip with the new boat.
The former Asteria became available when its owners upgraded to a newbuild at the end of last year and was bought last year by Waterdance with the intention of converting it from trawling to netting as an addition to the company’s growing fleet. Renamed Amanda of Ladram, the boat is skippered by John Walsh who steps across from the Charisma with his crew.
The conversion was carried out by Stride Engineering, who stripped off the net drums at the stern and cut the shelterdeck back, replacing it with an aluminium shelter and net pounds. The trawl winch forward was taken out and the area under the shelterdeck forward was remodelled to accommodate a new hauling hatch and a Spencer Carter hauler, as well as a new gear and catch handling layout.
Amanda of Ladram is the third former Scottish trawler that Stride Engineering has converted to netting for Waterdance, following Karen of Ladram and Joy of Ladram.
The wheelhouse has also been extensively remodelled, and the trawler layout with the skipper’s chair facing a bank of screens replaced with a control position on the starboard side with a view over the hauling hatch. Britannia Engineering re-installed much of the existing wheelhouse electronics as well as fitting a new sounder and radar, and R Cann & Son handled the woodwork, in addition to fitting a new wooden deck and fitting out the fully fibreglassed fishroom.
Amanda of Ladram is fishing with a crew of six altogether; skipper John Walsh, and crewmen Trevor Broome, Chris Lee, Julius Gulanag, Luke Chown and Charlie Lozade.
Look out for the full report on Amanda of Ladram in the March issue of Hook & Net.
