“I’ve spent my life around fishing boats,” Connor McClelland, founder and owner of CDEE Marine Electrical, told Fishing News.
“My father is a fisherman. When I was a kid, the only time I saw him was to go out on the boat when he came in. We’d have an hour and a half, and then he’d come back out. I’ve always been around boats, enjoyed being on them.”
It was Connor’s father, Ian, skipper of Morning Star FR 277, who convinced him to follow a career path on shore, rather than at sea. “When I was younger, I went boating with him during the school holidays, but he said he didn’t particularly want me to be a fisherman.
“He told me if I got into a trade and then decided I didn’t like it, by all means I could go fishing. He’d take me on board and help me get as far as I wanted to go – getting tickets and becoming a skipper.”
Connor decides to stay on the beach to develop his career as an electrician – but with the “help” of his father. “I had been working as a home industrial electrician for seven or eight years – but my dad would phone me and ask me what’s wrong with this, what’s wrong with that,
I’ll get down to the boat and see what I can do. It was a typical family-free business at first!
“However, through talking to him and his help, I decided to become self-employed and work in the maritime sector.”
As a result, Dumfries-based Connor founded CDEE Marine Electrical last year. His role can see him traveling around the UK – at any time of day or night – fixing electrical problems and helping ships get back to sea.
“I do my best to serve everyone. I don’t have a typical day. I’ve seen myself driving to Fraserburgh at 3am, or being booked into work in Shoreham where I have to leave Dumfries at 1am to get there at 8am.
“Wherever the boat is, I’ve just got to go. I’ve got to go. I understand this industry — I’ve been in it my whole life. It’s not a nine-to-five job. It’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for these boys, so I’ve got to be Likewise if I want to keep them going.
Connor works on a King Challenger BA 87. He says he knew from a young age that he probably wouldn’t follow his father Ian into fishing. “When I was about 14 or 15, I went out with him a few times, but it wasn’t for me. I was more interested in how ships worked than actually working on them.
Connor’s day – or night – usually begins with a request from the skipper. “For example, I do a lot of work for West Coast Sea Products in Kirkcudbright, and the boat captain will call me and say they have a problem, and they’ll come in on a Tuesday at any time – for example – it could be 3am or 3pm.
“I’ll take with me gear and tools that I think will help me, and then see what the situation is when I get to the ship. Basically, I go into most jobs blind. Fishermen are fairly adept at describing what’s wrong, and they’ll say the problem might be this or that— But they are wrong nine times out of 10 so I jump on board and see what the problem is!
Defining the problem isn’t the only problem Connor faces. “How long I’m on board depends on the type of boat. One of the West Coast Sea Products boats is on the Queenie’s at the moment, so they’ll come in and about an hour and a half later they’ll be right back out. So it’s a matter of getting in and working as quickly as possible to fix the job The ship returns to sea.
“It definitely adds a bit of pressure. Understandably, the ship is eager to get back, so it lights a fire under you.”
“I don’t like to be defeated. If I can’t find a solution to a problem, it stays stuck in my head, and next time the boat gets there, I’ll go back down. However, nine times out of 10, I’ll sort it out—and touch wood.” So far, I always bring the ship back out.
Connor explains an electrical problem to Nicky McMillan, skipper of the Alcedo BA77.
Another challenge facing Connor is the wide range of problems fishing vessels can now encounter with their electrical equipment. “Last week one boat had a problem where the shore power was tripping. On another, the winch wasn’t working. Jobs can be anything really, they’re so varied. I don’t think I’ve had the same problem twice in the last year.”
“It’s one of those jobs where you might have the same problem twice in six months, or twice in six years. It can be frustrating, but it’s also great, because it keeps you interested.”
However, the one thing that remains constant are phone calls from his father. “There was a photo in Fishing News recently of my dad’s boat heading up Douglas in bad weather.
“Funnily enough, I had to fix the boat the next week because it turned off all the lights!”
CDEE Marine Electrical can be contacted on: 07946 180970 or via Facebook at: CDEE Marine Electrical.
This story is taken from the latest issue of Fishing News magazine. For more up-to-date, in-depth reporting on the commercial fishing sector in the UK and Ireland, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
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