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Bluewater Boats Limited is a truly bespoke hull building and fit out company whose boats are finished to exceptional standards by our own team of welders, engineers, carpenters, electricians and painters. It is because of this approach every Bluewater Boats barge is so very special and unique to each and every customer.We know just how important it is to our customers to get the boat of your dreams, which is why we work very closely with our customers to ensure this happens. We offer our exceptional and experienced service to all our customers with guidance on the hull all the way through to the interior layouts and designs. Please call us to arrange an appointment or for more details regarding our boats |
By admin 14th December 2022 - 2:32 pm
Dear David and Sharon,
I hope you are both well. We would like to thank you both and your crew for our wonderful new home. I can’t believe it’s a month since launch. We have already had the first service done but due to the ice we’re now confined to the marina.
The boat is everything we were hoping for and the attention to detail is superb. We would like to thank you for the professional way that the whole build was completed. You always had time to explain and listen to our ideas and your experience and input was always spot on, resulting in what we would say is a perfect boat.
From the sheet of steel that we first saw to the finished boat which is now our home a very big thank you. Also a big thanks to all your staff and Jeff the sign writer for his finishing touches to our Coffin Dodger.
Paul Karen and Mr Pisssh
Coffin Dodger
By admin 22nd September 2022 - 8:47 am
That well known saying that – “A little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing” – must have been ringing in the ears of Bluewater Boats’ Dave and Sharon Warner as they watched us drive out of the company’s boatyard in Ladbroke in the autumn of 2021.
We’d just spent a couple of hours with Dave and Sharon who had patiently listened to our rambling wish list of random items that we thought were essential when it comes to the construction of a bespoke narrow boat. We’d been regular hire boaters for the past five years and decided we’d take the plunge into boat ownership because by then we – of course – knew exactly what was and wasn’t needed for the perfect narrowboat. The look on Dave’s face sat across the desk – at times – told a different story!
However, despite this rather ‘interesting’ start Dave, Sharon and the rest of the team at Bluewater, managed the impossible and not only delivered on every one of our requests but actually managed to blend them seamlessly into the superb bespoke cruiser stern narrowboat that we call now ‘Essex Girl’.
But don’t take just our word for that. Since she was launched in late July she’s proved to be a real ‘head turner’ and drawn many complimentary remarks out on the cut as we’ve got to grips with being boat owners, particularly her distinctive deep, dark blue paintwork. But that’s no surprise to us.
Throughout her build we’ve always been made welcome when we’ve visited the yard and given that we live locally that was usually at least once a month. Consequently we were able to see her progress from a flat sheet of steel on the workshop floor, to becoming a hull and then through the painstaking hours of detailed work during fit out and finally painting. Nothing was ever too much trouble, no question raised unworthy of explanation no matter how trivial. And that’s why she’s so distinctive. Quality workmanship from beginning to end.
And it doesn’t stop there. Like any new boat she needed a few adjustments here and there, including the addition of some extra ballast just to get her final trim spot on. All of which was quickly taken care of with the minimum of fuss in her new home at Calcutt Marina, on the Grand Union.
It’s quite a scary moment when you commit to commissioning the building of a narrow boat from scratch, but the confidence in the team at Bluewater we felt as soon as we began talking to Dave and Sharon soon put our minds at rest.
We can’t speak highly enough of everyone involved over the past 12 months – and while sharing the build so closely with Dave and Sharon we’ve also become firm friends.
And if you happen to see us out on the cut – come say hello and we’ll happily show you around.
Nicole Harrington and Richard Clapp
NB Essex Girl
By Warren & Diane Geller 18th May 2020 - 1:18 pm
Our replica Dutch Barge is near completion and we are so looking forward to seeing the end result of this exciting project. From our first meeting with Sharon and David we have seen a dream become a reality. Supported by an impressive and professional team, we were able to build on their experience and personalise our own new build. Monthly visits to see progress and work out any issues, have always been productive and enjoyable. They have given us total confidence in their commitment to delivering a quality product that is tailored to our requirements. They have managed the lockdown well and are back at work completing the build. We look forward to our next visit.
By Andrew Phillips 16th January 2019 - 1:10 pm
Shensi, our replica Dutch Barge, was delivered from Bluewater Boats in 2017, and from our first meeting with David and Sharon at Crick, we have never looked back or regretted our decision to engage them for our build – they were easy to talk to and understood what we were aiming for, and they have a great workforce to support their business.
As I would imagine with most custom new-builds, our build was not without its challenges but Sharon and David took the time to work with us to achieve a barge to be proud of, after all this was to be our home and it needed to be functional and comfortable, and Nicki and I both agree that this was achieved in spades.
We spent our first year on the Thames so that any snagging issues could be addressed for us in a timely fashion, and we have since moved on to Europe, where Shensi still lives up to our expectations. She handles well and is very comfortable, and we are often approached by passers-by expressing their admiration for her.
Before, during and since Shensi’s build, we have always felt that we had a positive relationship with Bluewater Boats, and they have continued to be extremely helpful and supportive whenever we have had any questions or additional needs.
All-in-all, Nicki and I have been very impressed with everyone at Bluewater Boats, and their attitude and commitment has given us great reassurance throughout the process. Well done Bluewater and thank you.
By Trudy & Adrian Davies 9th April 2017 - 10:53 am
It’s now been 14 months since we took delivery of Skylark and we are still loving the lifestyle she provides. It has been a very steep learning curve for us both, but we have got through it with the continued support from Bluewater Boats Ltd. As with every new build, we have had a couple of teething problems, but Bluewater Boats Ltd have always responded and assisted us where needed, a big thank you to you all. Skylark is still admired by people wherever she is moored. We are extremely lucky to be able to enjoy such a comfortable boat as our home and look forward to cruising the canals and rivers for many more months to come. For us there is no better way to unwind after a day at work, than to sit on the roof enjoying a glass of wine or beer whilst watching the beautiful sunsets, now that’s what we call living. And you can do it too, just contact Bluewater Boats Ltd and they will help you brings your dreams to life, just like us!
By admin 10th April 2017 - 8:27 am
Thank you both Trudy and Adrian for choosing Bluewater Boats to build your new home and thank you for your positive and lovely comments. We wish you a wonderful boating season in 2017 and we are pleased Skylark is everything you both dreamt of.
By Lynn McCole 12th November 2016 - 7:03 am
Just back from a 5 hour meeting with Sharon and Dave planning the next stage of Where’s Ware? Build. Intense, fun, informative sums up the time. The whole team are all professionally helpful, creative and happy to change layouts around to suit our future lifestyle on our boat. If you as a prospective boat owner are reading this then look no further because Bluewater Boats are your answer to any boat build.
By TONY WILKINSON 8th July 2016 - 7:06 am
Hi Sharon & Dave ( Kipper) We have now had our boat, Cheers, for about 18 month, we are very pleased with the boat, the quality of the workmanship and the design of the boat. Any small problems we have had have been sorted out as soon as possible. All your staff was very helpful from the start of the build to the finish and afterwards. We are very pleased to have your name on the boat, Built by Blue Water Boats of ladbroke. We would have no problem in recommending you to any perspective customers. Hope you have many more years building quality boats, Hope this years show was good for you and that you have a good open weekend. All the best Tony & Carol Wilkinson.
By Nigel and Judith Cribb 12th June 2016 - 10:31 am
Our narrowboat, Elsie May was built by Bluewater Boats in 2011. We chose Bluewater because we liked the idea of a single boat builder doing everything from steelwork to the final fit-out and we were very impressed with the quality of the boats we saw being built. We made an excellent decision. We are delighted with Elsie May and she has provided us with many days of happy cruising. The build process went very well; Sharon and Dave and the rest of the team were a delight to work with; they were flexible in incorporating our design ideas into the boat and equally contributed their own suggestions too, which we appreciated as this is the first boat we have owned. We agreed that Elsie May could be displayed at the Crick Boat show before she was launched, and while this was somewhat stressful for us (having hundreds of visitors through our yet to be used boat!), we were pleased to help Bluewater. We had only a handful of snagging issues and we had no difficulty getting these dealt with. Elsie May now has over cruising 1000 hours on the clock; she still looks great and is in excellent condition; a tribute to the quality of the build. We remain in contact with Sharon and Dave, and enjoy catching up with them periodically at either Crick or at the boatyard. We would thoroughly recommend Bluewater to anyone wanting a high quality bespoke narrowboat built.
By martin Simpson 10th May 2016 - 10:05 am
Hello Sharon and David,
Just a quick e-mail to let you know we have arrived on the Mediterranean side of the Canal Du Midi !
The dream has become reality !!.
Our Dutch Barge “Tell us Tomorrow” sailed out of Boston across the Wash and round the North Sea at the start of the summer to spend a few months on the Thames, then in late September 2015 we sailed it from Queenborough to Calais and then on down the canal and river system to the South of France.
All this way trouble free, what a splendid job you made of the design, build and fit out.
You both have to be congratulated on the shear high quality of the boat`s you produce.
You should be very proud of the boats you build.
We have seen many boats and barges along the way, but never anything to come close to what you have built.
Many people have been invited aboard to look at this boat, and we actively promote your company over all others.
We have added a solar system, the wheel house roof has eight flexible panels sown into the canvas with a state of the art controller that feeds around 45 amps into twelve deep cycle forklift truck batteries. This allows the use of all of the electrical appliances including the 1 Kw immersion heater without a shore line or the generator running.
Also we have purchased a deck wash water pump that will be installed in the engine room that uses canal water for washing the boat down.
By Andy Varco 18th April 2016 - 8:29 am
My narrow boat is 13 years old.In the first few years I was plagued with rust pitting along the waterline which broke through within weeks of frequent blacking.I turned to Bluewater who shot blasted the hull and applied an epoxy blacking.Problem solved.She has just been out of the water some 4 or 5 years after the treatment and there was no sign any rusting.In fact I only had a coating applied largely for cosmetic purposes.
By Chris West 15th April 2016 - 4:04 pm
We have had our bespoke widebeam (Oasis) now for three years. One of the best decisions my wife and I made was using Dave & Sharon at Bluewater Boats. Everywhere we go, even now, everyone wants a tour of the boat. It was brilliant and still is. We would recommend Bluewater boats again and again, we have so many comment about our boat and love every minute in her. Only regret is we should have done it years ago. Carry on the great work. Chris & Deb West
By Kevin & Michele Bond 13th February 2016 - 12:09 pm
We are the proud owners of a Bluewater Dutch barge replica “Kendra Erin” previously known as Charmor.
The workmanship is excellent and the paint finish is now 10 years old. It still looks great (when I wash it)
While we are the 3rd owner, Bluewater have always answered any questions we have had.
We would recommend their workmanship and finished product.
regards
Kevin & Michele
By Trudy & Adrian Davies 8th February 2016 - 5:52 pm
Tuesday 26th January was a very exciting day for us as we took delivery of Skylark, our new home. However, the weather was horrendous and it was touch and go if she was going to be launched! Personnel from Bluewater Boats Ltd confirmed that it was the worst weather they had experienced when handing over a boat!! Everyone involved was extremely positive and with great determination, we finally got her on the water at Sharpness Shipyard, a very big THANK YOU to you all. We are now settled on the Gloucester & Sharpness canal, still experiencing horrendous weather, but we still have big smiles on our faces knowing this is the start of our dream and Bluewater Boats Ltd made it happen. We have had many people admiring Skylark, well who wouldn’t – she is gorgeous. Only the other day a couple out walking their dog stopped to chat to us about Skylark. They are hoping to have a boat built in a couple of years time, so we invited them on board for a quick tour. They were extremely impressed by the build quality and after an exchange of numbers, promised to return to enquire further about Bluewater Boats Ltd – watch this space David & Sharon!
By Trudy & Adrian Davies 1st January 2016 - 11:02 am
We are very excited as our wide-beam ‘Skylark’ will soon be completed by Bluewater Boats Limited, our launch date scheduled for January 26th.
From our very first meeting we have been impressed by the professionalism, dedication, craftsmanship and knowledge of the whole team. The build quality throughout ‘Skylark’ is superb, with lots of attention to detail.
Dave & Sharon have been on hand every step of the way, listening to our ideas, guiding us through the build process, giving valuable advise.
In our opinion, we could not have chosen a better company to build our dream.
By Jennie Austen 18th April 2015 - 9:05 am
Our beautiful boat was launched this week with great excitement. We have had so many admirers including one boater who congratulated us and said,
“I could tell straight away she’s a Bluewater Boat from the fantastic finish and paintwork.”
Thank you all at Bluewater for our very classy vessel, she really is wonderful.
By Jacqueline and Paul Rhodes 18th March 2015 - 3:10 pm
After years of exhaustive research, we had a firm idea of what we needed from our new Narrow Boat and chose Bluewater boats as the builder based upon their knowledge and experience, complimented by the skills and workmanship of their Team. Over the next few months our boat gradually took shape allowing us to observe the attention to detail displayed at every stage. Sharon and Dave were always available to assist with our ideas and the result was a fantastic merger of technology and traditional crafts. Thank you Sharon, Dave, and the Team… Jacqueline, Paul and “Leggin-It”
By David Austen 18th March 2015 - 10:09 am
Our narrowboat being built by Bluewater Boats will be completed in the next month.
Unlike others, we didn’t do the rounds of other boat builders before choosing Bluewater Boats to construct our bespoke narrowboat. We simply went to Crick last year where we were extremely impressed by the quality of the workmanship on their show boat, and the novel treatment of the cratch in particular. By moving the water tank from its’ conventional position under the floor of the cratch, the floor is on the same level as the rest of the deck, thereby increasing the living space considerably. We have built on this idea further by extending the steel sides to within 3 feet of the bow, adding bespoke wooden framed windows which results in a lovely large sitting/dining area.
All this and other novel features has involved much discussion with Dave, Sharon, Lucy and their colleagues. They have interpreted our ideas to perfection and with infinite patience and understanding. We are very impressed that they build everything themselves – the first time we visited there was just the base plate with a pile of steel by the side! We are so pleased we didn’t spend time visiting other boat yards.
The boat will be on show at Crick this year and we will be proud to show you round!
By John & Lynda Cannings 15th March 2015 - 11:13 am
We chose Bluewater Boats to build our Dutch barge after looking at other builders, we thought they were the best then and still do. Liberty has been much admired especially in Holland. There are things we would change on the barge but the builder is not one of them. In hindsight an aluminium folding wheelhouse would be much easier and lighter to handle when the need arises to fold down the wheelhouse.
Liberty was launched in October 2006 and has been our home since. We sailed her from Goole down to Ramsgate and then across to Neiuport in Belgium in April 2010. We always recommend Blue Water boats to anyone who asks, they were a good choice.
By Jennie Austen 3rd March 2015 - 8:49 pm
What can I say? We are so excited about Ruby, she is looking so good and fingers crossed that Captain David will eventually decide on the hifi set up so we will be ready for Crick.
By Tony & Carol Wilkinson 3rd March 2015 - 9:41 am
Having a narrowboat built as Bluewater was a excellent experience from start to finish. They work to a very high standard paying attention to detail. We made a visit to see the build most weeks so we could se the work as it progressed. we use the boat as a live a board and are very pleased with the end results. They have a very good team of staff working on the boats. The boat was started on time and finished on time with good after sales service. We named the boat CHEERS.
By sharon and David Warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:47 pm
Many thanks for your wonderful comments, we are glad you enjoyed your experience with ourselves and enjoying life onboard “cheers”
By Gary Sutcliffe 2nd March 2015 - 4:39 pm
Where do I start?: I have been in the marine industry and I like to think I know a bit about boats! What I do know is a lot of people who are good with boats. There are many people in ur industry that are good at various aspects of the boat building trade, however their are not so many who are good in all aspects of boat building. On my quest for my own boat I looked at various boat types, many boat builders and when it came down to it the people that offered me what I wanted and needed was Bluewater boats. Always willing to offer the best advice, the most willing and able of craftsmen and above all an end product that is of the highest quality.
In my mind if you are looking to invest in the future, look no further than Bluewater, anyone should feel free to contact me to expand on my experience.
Gary Sutcliffe DB “Panache”
By Sharon and David Warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:44 pm
Thank you for your wonderful comments, we are glad that you enjoyed your experience with ourselves and are still enjoying trips out on “Panache”
By Trottie Kirwan 1st March 2015 - 10:14 pm
Dave and the Bluewater team built our widebeam “Pericles” six years ago and we remain absolutely delighted with the job they did. The boat was built as we wanted (with the wise advice of the team when our ideas were particularly impractical) and the workmanship is terrific – people still go wow when they come into the cabin. It functions really well both as a home and a holiday destination, and everything works as well now as it did when it was new.
By sharon and David Warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:42 pm
Thank you for your lovely comments, we are glad you enjoyed your experience with ourselves and still enjoying life on “Pericles”
By Bruce Bosworth 1st March 2015 - 5:35 pm
We took possession of our Dutch barge, Bolberry, in July 2007. People look at it now (2015) and think we have recently had it painted. In fact it is the original finish. The barge is everything we wanted. The only change I would make now, with hindsight, is to avoid the Webasto boiler. However, despite early difficulties with it, it now only needs an annual service and usually also needing a replacement burner tube every two years which I find a bit expensive. We generally only use the Webasto for 1.5 hours each day in the early mornings during winter.
I would go to Bluewater Boats again if I were buying a new boat.
By Sharon and David Warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:39 pm
Thank you for your comments, we are pleased that our standards of paint work are living up to our expectations and that you are still enjoying life on “Bolberry”
By John Magiera 1st March 2015 - 2:38 pm
My 63ft Narrowboat was launched at the Crick Boat Show in 2010 and spent the first two years on the Canals. The boat is now on the rivers in East Anglia, where in April 2014 she was surveyed for her first BSC. Having previously owned and hired boats I can categorically state that the building quality of the present boat is far superior to that of those before, beginning with the welding and ending with the interior woodwork. Even the surveyor made similar comments during his examination on board.
The team at Ladbroke was, during the design and building phase, extremely helpful, competent and friendly. I wanted to include many unusual design ideas and probably caused quite a few headaches, but I never felt that there was any “attitude” during the many meetings with David, Sharon and the team.
Now, after five years, I can happily say that I am still being looked after in the same way. And, most important, the boat is still in almost pristine, trouble-free condition.
Thank you Bluewater Boats !
John Magiera
By Sharon and David Warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:33 pm
Thank you for all your lovely comments, we are glad than you enjoyed your experiance with ourselves and still enjoy your trips out on “Ariadne”
By Steve Gerrard 1st March 2015 - 9:44 am
Having never previously owned or even been aboard a narrow boat or wide beam barge, we decided to do some stringent research on boat builders. After viewing a number of barges and visiting some boat builders, we where somewhat mesmerised by what the builders had on offer. Then Bluewater boats were recommended by someone who had previously had a boat built by them.
We made an appointment to visit Bluewater and ever since the first phone call to Dave and Sharon we new we had chosen the builder for us.
Because we live over a 100 miles away from Bluewater, visiting the yard during the build process was somewhat difficult, however we were kept informed on a regular basis whether by phone calls or emails.
Dave and Sharon are a pleasure to deal with and nothing was to much trouble, they recommended what would be best but also accommodated our requests and extra work and built us our lovely home “Happidaze”.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Bluewater Boats to build you your Narrow – Widebeam or Dutch Barge, if we ever decide to change Happidaze, we would definitely go back to Bluewater
By Sharon and dave warner 3rd March 2015 - 12:14 pm
Many thanks for your lovely comments, we are glad that you enjoyed your experience with ourselves and still enjoying life aboard “Happidaze”