Bob and Norma Brown are pleased to announce the Devon range of boats will continue to be built in 2018. On their retirement in December they are handing over to Tim and April Altham.
Tim is determined to carry on giving an excellent service supplying all the spares for the Devon range as well as building the full range of boats to a very high specification.
Tim’s wife will assist him, with his two daughters Sasha and Alex. Tim comes from a practical sailing family with his two daughters being dinghy sailing instructors.
Tim and April will carry on the business as Honnor Marine Classics Ltd, based at:
Unit 14, The Anvil Centre, Prospect Business Park, Swanage, Dorset BH19 1EJ
Contact: Telephone: 01929 427855 eMail: tim@honnormarine.co.uk or info@honnormarine.co.uk .
On a footnote Bob and Norma wish to thank all their customers and suppliers who have supported them over their 20 years at Honnor Marine.
They are both looking forward to a new venture and are now hoping to find some good sailing time together.
Good wishes are passed to Tim and April and his lovely family who will carry on the tradition of building these popular, safe, classic family boats for many years to come
Tim has been a Dabber owner for over 20 years and has a very good appreciation of the history and capabilities of these beautiful boats. His wife, April is also a keen sailor.
Previous History – Drascombe to Original Devon Boats
About Bob and Norma
In the summer of July ’97 I was about to buy a second hand Coaster from a boat yard in Chesterfield.
The salesman was unable to tell me the exact year the boat was built, so I noted the hull number and that it had been built in Totnes, Devon by Honnor Marine (UK) Ltd. I then decided to telephone the company for further details.
On the Monday morning, as soon as I got into my office, I telephoned the company and was most surprised to hear on the other end of the telephone the voice of a gentleman who informed me that Honnor Marine (UK) Ltd had gone into liquidation.
He had been appointed to raise money for creditors and informed me that all the company assets were for sale. He told me it would be a sale by tender and sent a list of the companies assets.
I was amazed what this actually included, besides the boat moulds; it also included all the plugs, which are the items for making new moulds as well as all the boat fittings and spars. It also included all the office equipment.
That evening, I gave a lot of thought about Honnor Marine (UK) Ltd and as the company had been making and selling these boats for over 30 years, I thought that they should still go on being manufactured.
I made the decision to put an offer in for the company as I had always admired these lovely classic boats and I thought it would be such a shame for them not to continue.
Within the week, I was told that my offer was accepted and from day one, we have continued to satisfy long-standing customers with boat spares in this country and all over the world.
I moved the business up to the North of England to my existing factory site where we have during the last six years, obtained our CE Mark for full range of boats. This is the new EU directive, which became law in June 1998, and we are continuing with our dedicated workforce to carry on building new and also refurbishing older boats to the latest CE standards for buoyancy and stability.
Because we wish to continue to promote our boats, we are offering a truly quality boat at the most competitive price in the country.
We cannot use the original trademark as it was given to McNulty Boats Ltd, which went into liquidation on 23rd September 2002. This was the day after the Southampton Boat Show had ended.
We now call our boats “The Original Devon Range”.
With your support we hope to continue and go from strength to strength.
Bob Brown.