Born in 1931, the second of Dan and Lena Cottrell’s four children, Dan knew what he wanted from an early age: “I always loved boats,” was his opening statement, which seems a pretty fair place to start a story about a boatbuilder.
The Cottrell family owned a bach at Orere Point, near Clevedon. “I used to stand up on the cliff there and watch the boats travelling across the Firth of Thames and dream, ‘Wouldn’t that be heaven.’ Well, later, I did it hundreds of times.”
Just down the road from the family home in Sandringham, local boatbuilder and returned serviceman Charlie Filmer was building an 11m carvel-planked timber launch on his front lawn, and Cottrell began helping him during the weekends. Filmer asked Cottrell to become his full-time apprentice early in 1947.
However, Cottrell’s father felt that Filmer’s workmanship wasn’t up to scratch and, after six months, helped his son gain a Motor Body Building apprenticeship with Eaddy & Taylor, a far more professional operation.
“I felt it was a good trade to
