A SMALL family-run North-East boatyard is to unveil a new luxury motor yacht at the Boat Show, in Southampton.

The 12 metre-long craft is the first to be developed by Wilstream Luxury Yachts and is the brainchild of Jonathan Wilson, 26, who has taken more than two years to get the design right.

It is the first of what will become the company's Adventure Series, but Mr Wilson has further plans on the drawing board to build others up to twice the size of the prototype.

Wilstream is a specialist subsidiary of Tyne Slipway and Engineering, of South Shields - a company headed by his father, Harry Wilson.

Mr Wilson senior, who has a lifetime of experience in the maritime industry, said: "We decided at the start of the millennium that we would move into the steel-hulled motor yacht market.

"Now we have a prototype we are ready to take orders and hope to be producing five or six yachts each year, which would involve us trebling or quadrupling our workforce."