30 years in prison...

…in the living room!

I’ve found this little mahogny dinghy when I was about to purchase plans to build my own.
One-click away from acquiring pea-pod plans from WoodenBoat I stopped and thank - maybe I can found one on Blocket???

Call it luck, because there are usually tons of GRP boats only, with few wooden dinghies very seldom but… there were actually 3 for sale, all relatively close to me!

One was in extremely good shape - used maybe 2-3 times. I liked it but it was beyond my reach.

The second one required longer trip South of Stockholm. Very nice people but the boat was in rather neglected shape. Price was OK but I wanted to check the third one, cheapest of all three.

Third one happened to be a few blocks from my work. I went there during lunch brake. Here she was - a furniture, in the living room.
She was in good shape, price was even better and the owner agreed to lend me his trailer (costing 3x more than the boat) to take her to my home 90km away.

So we’ve made a deal!

As it turned out he bought her used, some 40 years ago. Used her for 10 years when finally sold his big boat and dinghy was no longer needed. Owning a big house he renovated the boat and put her as decoration in his living room. For the next 30 years she was standing in the corner.

As he was moving now from his house he could not take the boat with him so she landed on Blocket. And then I’ve found her.

It was a crazy night. After signing the contract we loaded her onto trailer and I drove back to my place. Driving max 80km/h on a highway can be annoying, to everyone, but that was a max speed I was allowed to go with this trailer. Good it was after 21 in the evening.

After coming to my harbour I’ve off loaded her from the trailer (alone so she waits around 50kg) and with help of Mattias who was around we’ve put her into her proper element.

30 years on dry is never good for any wooden boat. Luckily this boat is lapstrake built which is more suited for off-water storage than caravel construction. Anyhow, I expected her to sink directly.

She didn’t!

Of course she started to take water with small leaks but nothing dramatic. Amazing!

I’ve filled her with some stones and added water to put her gently onto the bottom. That shall enable wood to swell again and hopefully after a week or two she will be tight again.

Then I drove back to leave the trailer. This time faster.

And then I drove the same way again to get home. Even faster.

But first into harbour to check the boat. After all, it was only 00:00 at night.
Where I live, at this time of year there is no night, really.

Checked if she lies comfortably on bottom, tightened lines and went home.

And all that because my boat neighbours “complained“ that my rubber boat does not really match Meritaten and that she deserves something with more class…

Sure she does!