Interview - The Boatshed North Wales team on location at their office in Pwllheli Marina
In April 2007 Rob & Lydia Jutton set up Boatshed North Wales and it has been going from strength to strength ever since. The Boatshed North Wales team is headed up by Robert & Lydia Jutton with a sales team, Andy & Mandy Wood and Andy Topham. Full biographies can be found on the website and you can find the office is situated in Pwllheli Marina on the Llyn Peninsular.
The area is well known in the North West for its stunning scenery with the back drop of the Welsh mountain range starting with Snowdonia. There is an abundance of beautiful un-spoilt sandy beaches which are safe for families and all boating activities.
It's a big surprise to folks the first time they arrive who are often blown away with the beauty of the area when they visit. The main tourist spot close to the office is Abersoch which has around 200 boats on swinging moorings in the summer and is roughly 4-5 miles from Pwllheli Marina which is home to some 600 boats.
Most of the Boatshed North Wales visitors are from the North West and Midlands areas, although we do host many National and World championship dinghy and keelboat events in Pwllheli and Abersoch.
The bay lends itself to this event by being ideal for beach launching, very little commercial traffic, low tidal flow and well protected in anything other than easterly winds. For cruising sailors Ireland is a 50 mile hop from the end of the peninsular which can be a nice day sail to another lovely cruising area or even quicker by motor cruiser as all the facilities in Dublin bay are all close to hand once across the Irish Sea.
The Boatshed North Wales office was opened in Sept 2009 and has been a real bonus. They are next to the main chandlery and Volvo main agent plus Marine Electronics fitters. They experience a lot of passing interest as we are lucky enough to have a large window frontage to display the listings. We also have hard standing either side of the office for around 10 boats of mixed length of up to 40-45ft.
We arrange viewings via phone or email and passing trade, and because we are a few hours drive away for some people. Our customers ask a lot of questions and we do try to give as much info as we can and give an honest assessment of the boat. On the Boatshed websites you can see up to 80 large detailed pictures of the interior and exterior of the boat so that customers get a really good impression of the boat before they see it for the first time.
Boatshed North Wales sell anything from Luxury motor yachts to sailing dinghies, a very varied mix. Here in North Wales the sportsboat style of motor boats in the region of 16 - 25 ft is popular. We work very closely with many local yards in Pwllheli, Abersoch and Porthmadog, so we do tend to have a good number of sportsboats available.
Come and visit the office and view the boats on our computers displaying our website. The office is a great meeting point for all viewings on boats located close by as it's easy to find and is a welcoming environment for people viewing boats. It is a great place for finalizing handovers especially at this time of the year when the weather is cold. More often than not we can process the paperwork and complete the sale with the customers in the warm office while they sit an enjoy a cup of coffee in the warm.
In spite of the News media constantly telling us that Times are hard, second hand boats are still selling very well, provided they have been kept in good condition and are priced well.
Our location here on the Llyn Peninsular is only 2-3 hrs away from Cheshire and South Manchester areas. It is even closer to Conwy and Deganwy Marinas, which can be as little as 1 hr from Cheshire. Holiday visitors are very important to our local marine industry in this area.