The design was basically a follow up of the previous Supermarine Walrus. The only notable difference was the mounting of the engine. The Walrus had a rear-facing engine with a pusher propeller and the Sea Otter's engine faced forward with a tractor configuration.
During its design there was a considerable development of the power plant/propeller combination. Initially it was going to be named "Supermarine Stingray".
The original test aircraft was powered by a radial Bristol Perseus XI engine with a two bladed propeller, which turned to be underpowered, so the propeller was replaced by a three-bladed one and later with a four-bladed one, with the pair of blades set at an angle of 35º instead of the usual 90º. The prototype flew for the first time on 23rd September 1938, however it wasn't until 1942 when the Air Ministry put a production order.
The production versions were powered by a single 965hp Bristol Mercury radial piston engine, was armed with two defensive 0.303in (7.7mm) Vickers K guns mounted both in the nose and dorsal positions and had a bomb capacity of four 250lb bombs mounted under the wings.
A total of 292 machines were built in the two main variants, Mk.I (amphbious recon and communications aircraft) and Mk.II (dedicated S&R naval aircraft). Two-hundred fifty two Mk.I, with just two of them (both prototypes) built by Supermarine at Vickers-Armstrong in Woolston in 1938 and the remaining 250 of them manufactured by Saunders-Roe in East Cowes, from 1942 until 1944. The Mk.II variant was exclusively manufactured by Saunders-Roe from 1944 until 1945 and just 40 of them were manufactured.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Sea_Otter
2. https://www.valka.cz/topic/view/52567/Supermarine-Sea-Otter-Mk-I
3. https://www.valka.cz/topic/view/57191/Supermarine-Sea-Otter-Mk-II
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