First take an entrepreneur with a background in the trucking industry who is a selfconfessed "boating bore".

Then take a workforce about as far away from boating as you can get - ex-miners to be precise.

Bring this combination together in Chesterfield in the middle of England with no water nearby. Then build aluminium alloy narrow boats and wide beam river cruisers which you are going to end up exporting to New York.

Meanwhile Princess Anne arrives by helicopter to see what you are doing.

Tough as a tank That in a nutshell, is the Sea Otter story and we're not even near the last chapter yet.

The company was first formed in 1990 and began by building small harbour boats and tugs out of steel.

Then the company moved into aluminium alloy boat construction. Although Sea Otter Boats still build workboats they now mainly concentrate on leisure craft from 26ft to 50ft; 90% of production is narrowboats, the other 10% is wide beam boats.

They've just built a second factory next to their first purpose-built facility, which was only constructed two years ago;<$>they now have 20,000 square feet of production area.

At the moment output is 40 boats a year, but when the new facility is completed they hope to build up to 100 boats a year and production will include larger boats and sea going craft.

If the new factory goes up on budget it will have cost £509,000. That includes one of the biggest paint shops in England. It is environmentally controlled and can be heated up to 60infinityC.

This facility means they will be able to paint one of their big cruisers with four coats in just one day.

Constructing in aluminium alloy is expensive; it's the same material used to build army tanks. Most boats have a 6mm hull thickness and the alloy is nearly as strong as steel and has three times the elasticity.

Apparently this material "bounces off rocks."

The important thing is that it doesn't gradually deteriorate like steel. The company admits it cannot compete on price with steel or fibreglass. But where they do compete is on quality by concentrating on the top end of the narrow boat market.

Building the skills base MD Ray Shephard is the man behind Sea Otter and he has always been around boats, "but it took me 22 years to realise I didn't like sailing. After the first couple of hours I used to find it purgatory".

But that isn't the reason his specialist boat building company is now based in landlocked Chesterfield. This location is, as Shephard puts it:

"the strangest place in the world to build boats."

But he explains that they are there because of the available local workforce. "There are a lot of ex mining engineers who are very, very clever people, " he said. "The coal board trained these engineers and no expense was spared and they have a tremendous well of skill, ability and 'can do'."

They don't know the words can't do, he added. They don't know the word beaten and they have a tremendous work ethic. It's their dedication that has given me the product that we've got today. "I'm the figurehead and boss, " he told me, "but I'm nothing without the guys underneath me."

Talking to Shephard it's clear he sees those who work for him as vital to his company's success. He is also very aware that skilled mining engineers are a dying race and the only way to ensure the skills base is maintained and passed on to future generations is if companies take a positive attitude to training.

"You can't get skilled labour and pluck boatbuilders off a tree. We have our own apprenticeship scheme and recruit from the local technical college, " he said.

Are other marine companies doing enough about training?

The answer from Shephard is a very definite "No" and he is critical of the industry as a whole for not doing more.

"They all moan about skills shortages and they're doing nothing about it, " he commented. "I don't know where they think they are going to find the skilled people.

My advice would be don't be so selfish, invest something in the youth of today and let's create the skills base."

Shephard is hopeful all his guys will stay with him but, in reality, he realises they won't.

"Some will leave, " he shrugged.

"I don't mind losing some to another boatbuilder providing that boatbuilder is also training people. I might pinch one back from him."

It isn't just youngsters that have a bright future at Sea Otter - there's no age barrier here for the right people.

"I have 30 people working for me, " Shephard continued.

"40% are still under 25. My youngest is 17, my oldest is 61 and if you draw a demographic line between the age ranges at the company, that line is almost straight.

"I take on old guys as well as young guys so the old guys can pass on their skills. Nothing would stop me taking someone on at the age of 60 if I needed someone in that department to teach skills. He may not be the fastest person in the world but I bet he's rock solid."

Refresher courses for skilled employees are also part of life at Sea Otter Boats. "Bad habits can creep in and as a company doctrine we regularly have training sessions for all our employees."

It's all common sense, he says. "That's what bugs me about this industry. It's not rocket science to do what I'm doing to create a skills base but you've got to have it. All the rest see is the short term.

We 're here for the long haul."

Lucrative US markets The philosophy of building a top quality product by first building a top quality workforce has clearly paid dividends. Hence the bid to take a bite out of the Big Apple by exporting to the States.

This is seen as a very lucrative market for the Vbottomed hulls of Sea Otter boats. Flat-bottomed boats aren't suitable for the US canal system which has canalised rivers and lakes so needs more stable craft.

"There's nothing over there, " said Shephard. "They have miles and miles of beautiful canals and all you see is bits of fast plastic. Plastic is great for the sea but for inland waterways it's got to be metal to be robust and last."

Simon Norridge is the US Agent for Sea Otter Boats and it was at the NEC Boat Show last year when he first approached Shephard. "Being a Brummie myself I have seen what the Birmingham canals were and what they are today, " said Norridge. "I've also seen how the American canals have been revitalised."

The New York State canal system was built in 1825 and is now regarded with great historical significance because of its key role in the US industrial revolution.

To preserve and develop the system for leisure use it has been the subject of federal funding for the past 10 years.

Norridge says that when it comes to the canal boat building market there is very little competition from any American builders and US representatives of hire companies have already been over to England looking at Sea Otter boats The US canal system doesn't open until May but when it does the first boat, Regal Lady , will be going over.

She is 40ft long with a 10ft beam, has a displacement of 10 tons and will cost £80,00 fitted out to a luxury American specification. She will be based on the Erie Canal, which is 300 miles north of New York City.

Regal Lady was named by Princess Anne when she visited the Derbyshire factory.

Shephard met her at the London Boat Show in 2002 and afterwards he wrote to her. "I said please come and see us, we've got a story to tell. She replied that she would come, stuck to her word, then turned up at the factory by helicopter."

It is planned Regal Lady will be joined by 10 other boats but the export drive hasn't been easy.

They have found exporting to the US a complex process with minimal help given to British businesses.

Shephard concluded: "We get no help at all from the government for export, which is shameful. As a country we should be encouraging entrepreneurs more.

"The Italians get help to bring their boats into this country, as do the French and everyone else. But try sending them the other way and all the government ministers run a mile. As an island nation we have to export. If we don't export we vanish up our own backsides."

Did I mention that Ray was a plain speaking Yorkshireman by the way?