Glypto goes for retirement

November 04, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Based on her owner’s history I estimate that Glypto is over 100 years old. Not in bad shape for such old lady - she went through some minor restorations during her life, including my latest attempts to bring her back to shape.

I cleaned old putty from between planks, oiled her thoroughly and coated with countless layers of Owatrol. Before launching I filled all seams with Ettan with the hope that it will stay there when the planks swell, sealing all gaps.

After launching I left her in shallow water and allowed to swell for 2 weeks. Should be enough for mahogany boat to become tight but she still takes water anyway. Before every rowing trip I need to expel Mother Ocean from my Glypto.

Let’s face it: she needs a major rebuild: probably most planks do not need to be replaced but most seems should be plained and puttied with sealing agent again. Her frames need to be replaced. All that means disassembling the whole boat, building moulds, re-framing and planking from the beginning, with new copper rivets.
In principle this means building a boat from the beginning.

I would undertake this job if she would meet my requirements for a dinghy but unfortunately she does not.
It’s a pleasure to row her and her hull is beautiful but she is too heavy and cumbersome to be dinghy for our sailing boat Meritaten.
No way I can put her on deck - too big and too heavy.
Towing her astern will make Meritaten even slower - and she is already not a racing boat indeed.

I need a new, lighter boat - one I can rely on and one easier to maintain. Glypto will be allowed to rest now - not sure if I will launch her again, maybe I’ll turn her into marine furniture in our house?

Woodie

August 29, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

It was a fine afternoon - good enough reason to jump into Glypto and do some rowing. If that was not enough I thought I’ll row to the other side of Väto kanal to buy some screws in Woody.

It became a bit of the fight against the wind and waves. Luckily motor-boaters are gone by now so no risk to be swollen by waves they produce. Silent if not for the wind - water floating along Glypto’s freeboard, clouds running on the sky.

I was pretty sure that Woodie is closed by now but checking opening hours on their web page would be too simple.

I docked to their small bridge, tied the boat and contemplated silence on this side. Of course - they were closed, all went home already.

I smoked my pipe and jumped back into the boat. Pumped the bilge - she still takes water after so long sitting in the mud - and headed home, now with the wind.

Navy seal

August 28, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Calm and chilly evenings - perfect for rowing a small wooden boat.

We live in a place where people come for vacations. After the season it’s empty and very calm here. Especially disappearance of motorboat enthusiasts is making huge difference - silence and lack of idiotic swell is nerve calming.

I took Glypto to launching ramp, this time to leave her in water for some time. Since boat-guests no longer visit the harbour it’s emptier here.

I want to check if my renovation goes in the right direction - if she swells enough to be fully watertight.
Well - at least as much as 100-year old wooden dinghy can.

Launching with my modified cart went perfect - tube extensions worked as planed and I didn’t have to step into water to launch Glypto.

I started rowing towards Vätöbron. Exploring the shoreline on the way was indeed the purpose.
As often close to harbours one can find boat fenders which went lose. I don’t remember buying fenders for Meritaten - all of them were found in the water!

Water is cold and clear.
As when I was a boy — I enjoyed floating slowly above shallows and watching underlying worlds as if from the airship.

This boat rows like a dream! I might add just a bit more skegg for directional stability.
Rubber dinghy is a curse compared to this boat!

There was no other people in the vicinity and wind died before the evening. I was floating calmly close to the shore, watching clouds and rock constellations. I was totally silent and still.

Suddenly, about 20 meters from me water surface broke and something big emerged. At first I thought it was a big fish but no - it was much bigger. A seal!
She emerged with her back towards me so she probably was not aware I was behind her. She was breathing heavily, obviously after long dive.
I started, slowly, reaching for my camera, trying not to make any sound nor move the boat. The seal was floating and catching its breath, still not seeing me. By the time I finally reached the camera she took a few deep breaths and disappeared under water.

I waited, not moving, for the next 10 minutes, with the hope she will emerge again somewhere close but no, never saw her again this evening.

I rowed further and found a good place to land, for a short walk.

These places are almost inaccessible from land as Vätö is very high here and sharply descending into the sea.

It started to get dark when I rowed back into the harbour. The day was ending with clear Sunset.
Glypto was left on shallow water in the bushes. Mud bottom should protect her from swell movements. I’ll check her in coming days if planks swell to close her entirely.

Long-waited rowing

July 13, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

After almost two weeks of constant thunderstorms and rain we’ve finally got an evening with fine weather. Let’s go on water on Glypto!

I’ve prepared the boat for that during these days - she got more Ettan onto seams which I suspected leaking.

I was also eager to try my modifications of launching cart - added telescopic tube for launching. The cart was also re-built to enable towing the boat behind the bike.

All went well - to my surprise - and we had a great time this evening!

Launching!

June 27, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I’ve built a custom launching cart, based on old bicycle tender. I could of course buy a proper cart in Biltema for 1000 SEK but it’s less fun than to make one myself. It fits the boat and many other purposes around the farm.

Glypto weights around 60-80 kg but if placed with her centre of weight just above the cart’s axis it is almost effortless to move.

It’s been very hot the whole week so I waited until evening when air becomes cooler. Since there is no real night here at this time of year one can go for evening launch even at 10 p.m.

I have circa 3 km to the harbour and launching place so I took a walk with my boat.

Almost the whole way the road is well paved and goes through woods or silent, summer-house areas. Few people were around so I could smoke my pipe and walk with my boat undisturbed.

Finally we arrived to the harbour. An obstacle appeared: non-members are not allowed to launch their boats here. Road is closed with väggbom. I’m not a member (yet) and don’t have a key to this gate but… there is a space to squeeze my boat around this obstacle!

Entrance to the harbour is very steep - the island is high so going down to water is indeed going DOWN. It was a bit challenging to wheel-barrow the boat there but it went good.

On launching ramp I met a pair of people who wanted to helped me with launching. Not that I needed that but I appreciate it, especially that Glypto got complements!

And so we launched!

I jumped into the boat and row away, looking into bilge if we take water. We did, of course, but just a bit. Around 1-2 litres within these few hours and then she stopped leaking.

It was a very pleasant rowing evening. I kept us close to land - just in case - but I have now confidence that she is again a seaworthy little boat.

We landed on a beach nearby for some photo session at midnight.

Preparations for launching

June 25, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Same night after moving Glypto to my new place I re-started her renovation. She got one more layer of järnmönja on her bottom and several more layers of Owatrol oil on freeboard.

It’s convenient to be able to take the boat out of the way when oil or paint is drying. This way my girls don’t stumble upon wet paint when they pass through.

At the end of each session all cotton rags or paper towels soaked with linseed oil are burned, to avoid risk of self-ignition. I like this small ritual.

During these few weeks of working on Glypto this summer I’ve applied numerous layers of oil on her freeboard. With each layer wood looked better: colours got deeper and surface shined like behind the glass. By accident I have used Owatrol oil in a totally wrong way. What I thought is that I use Owatrol D2. Hence I followed procedures as for D2: saturated wood with D1 and then applied many layers of D2, with 12 hours (at least) intervals, to allow each layer to cure. Totally about 6 layers of D2 (as I thought) and 4-5 layers of D1 prior to that (wet-on-wet).

Only recently I discovered that oil I use is in fact not D2. It’s another sort of Owatrol, especially made for hardwoods. That’s good.
What is not good is that one needs to follow different application scheme: oil must be applied on bare wood (not oiled or impregnated with D1) and it needs to be done in 2-3 layers, wet-on-wet. Same day. And then it’s done.

Well, I’ve made it all up-side-down but the result is stunning! I dare to say it looks better than boats coated with standard D2 which I saw in the harbour. So my failure turned out to be harmless - nothing is peeling off or delaminating, all layers have cured properly and are hard.

One may say: why in the heck have you not read the label on the can?!!
It’s in German!!! Me being Polish… German language… we just don’t like each other.
So that’s why it happened!

I needed to re-fasten freeboard planks on the stern: not only were there different type of screws (even one in plain steel!!!) but they all lost their holding power and there were big gaps which would not close in water.

I’ve used 1mm wider and longer bronze screws. With some surgeon practice I’ve managed to remove all old screws in one piece so I could use old holes and avoid drilling more in her old planks.

One needs to get creative to clamp planks and bring them back together. As always - you cannot have too many clamps!

I’ve re-drilled old holes for bigger, longer screws and to get into fresh wood. New screws were bedded in Ettan - for easier driving-in and to seal everything from moisture.

Ettan was also squeezed into seams. Most of it was squeezed out again upon closing the seam so I can be sure that it is tight. Yet another coat of oil on the whole boat and the job was done.

Since I will drag this boat on stony beaches I wanted to protect keel wood from being damaged. Brass rubbing band should do the job. I bought mine from Toplicht, non-drilled.

After measuring on the boat I drilled and countersunk holes and went into attaching it to the boat. After some forming to fit the shape the brass sits as if it was born with the boat.

While being at it I removed painter fitting and took to my shop. The chrome plating had lots of cracks and looked ugly so I removed it. Nice brass appeared on the surface - that’s what I like.

I want it to develop patina and turn brown-green, not to shine chrome.

The most tedious and painful for fingers was the job of closing all gaps between planks. Again I used Ettan as a traditional way of doing this. Not only it smells good (tjära!), is natural (beeswax) but is so soft that when wood swells it is squeezed out without damaging planks. But it’s a pain in the ass to apply, especially on very hot day like we happened to have then.

I formed Ettan-spaghetti which was then squeezed into seams with fingertips. All seams, the whole boat. I got painful fingers for a week after that!

I’ve found that wetting hand with water helps keeping Ettan from sticking to everything when rolling but is not making it any way less usable upon application on seams.

Fender line was finally attached along the whole boat.
She looks complete with it - with just one more detail:
-as a last thing before launching I needed to get my boat her name. She is Glypto, of course, but her name was not on her stern.
Now it’s there!

Glypto moving to new workshop

June 09, 2020 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I’ve luckily sold my remote workshop - I have my own, proper workshop now so it was time to move out from the small boathouse workshop.

A pile of wood and plywood which I stored there required renting a trailer. I took wood separately, to avoid damaging Glypto during bumpy transport.

I’ll go through this wood in coming days, to sort out what is usable and what will become fire wood.

All this almost ended as a disaster: we were the whole family there: my wife and daughter. While me and wife worked on loading stuff and emptying the boathouse my small daughter was playing around on piles of gravel.
There is a small lake behind the boathouse, water came in after Rosättra removed the rocks from the place. Every now and then we were looking out to check what’s going on with a kid and continued working inside the boathouse. At some point she disappeared. We shouted but there was no answer.
I gave my loudest kendo-shout with all my lungs and then I saw movement in the water! Jesus!
I started to run as I stood. Just before the water I thrown out my car keys behind me - thinking that we gonna need a car if I find her in the water. I jumped into the pond and swam. Dived few times but found nothing.
Then I saw movement few meters from me so I dived again in desperation. Nothing!

I looked backed on my wife who was shouting and pointing somewhere. I looked there - there she was! Safe, on land - hidden behind the gravel hill, scared now to see her father in wet clothes desperately diving in a pond.

Tired but happy I took off wet clothes, finished loading the trailer and we went home with the pile of wood.

Upon leaving I saw ducks on the pond. Apparently our shouts got them scared and this movement is what I saw on water…
Good it was a warm night. Good it ended like that!

After changing clothes I came back for my small boat. Glypto took the ride on empty trailer and arrived to her new workshop undamaged.

Oiling

October 19, 2019 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Finally - I could apply oil onto prepared mahogany.
This is an experiment - I want to evaluate Owatrol on mahogany in Swedish climate. Glypto, being an old and small dinghy, is an excellent testing object. If all works as advertised I will consider this method instead of traditional varnish on Meritaten.

We start with Owatrol D1 - soaking wood until it stops accepting any more oil.

Application with brush, wet-on-wet.
The weather was perfect - sunny and warm - so it became family event.

We applied generous amount of oil on each run. The wood was thirsty and Owatrol is very thin. Application is very easy and pleasant - when mahogany colour comes back to life.

After each pass I went again around the boat, brushing all planks so that oil is equally spread on all surfaces. Then there was a pause for 20-30 minutes, to allow the oil to soak deep into planks.

At 4th layer we could see that the wood is finally saturated. I spread the remaining oil with wet brush and stand back to enjoy the view.

It was very satisfying and easy job. I’ll wait for the proof that it holds long enough to substitute varnish. Surface preparation is no-work compared to varnish so even if oiling will require mid-season re-application it is no problem - it’s so easy and quick.

Boat was left to cure for few days. After that I will apply järnmönja on the bottom and Owatrol D2 on the topsides.
One can do with just D1, which will give satin finish but D2 should further protect the wood from weathering and give glossy, thick layer of varnish-like surface.

Good to see progress on Glypto. She is blocking my workshop from carpentry work needed for Meritaten so I need to finish her renovation as soon as possible.

Staining

October 13, 2019 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Beautiful weather - warm and sunny. Only half day in boatyard today.

I finalised cleaning plank seams - Glypto got all kind of stuff between planks during her long life: original bedding compound (now dry and brittle), silicone, Ettan and what not.
All is away now, ready for fresh bedding. Seeing this variety of materials - especially damned silicon - made me change plans. Originally I planned to use Sikaflex (polysulfide bedding/glue) to seal seams but now I know it will not work. Due to silicone rests on the wood Sika will not adhere properly and seal will fail with time.

I will use traditional way instead and squeeze Farm into plank seams. It never hardens and should it fail in some place it is easy to re-apply without need for cleaning to bare wood again.

I sanded the whole hull with 180 grid paper, to prepare the wood for staining.

After thorough brushing the whole boat - especially open seams - from sanding dust I could finally apply mahogany stain.

It’s always a joy to see wood coming back to colour. I stained only the freeboard, bottom will be anyway painted with järnmönja and then covered with antifouling.

Stain application works best with a sponge - equal spread is easier to accomplish and work goes very fast. Chemistry is, however, pretty nasty - it melted nylon gloves after 15 minutes, luckily I have plenty spares.

I’ve left the boat to cure before I continue with oiling. Besides - the daylight was already fading and it was time to head home.

Wooding Glypto

June 04, 2019 by Lukasz Kumanowski

Last two evenings I continued stripping hull from old bottom paint and varnish. Hot-air gun and sharp blade on long handle make the job easy although time consuming. Especially keel plank and garboard are tricky as it is tight there between planks and curvatures are extreme. Careful knife guidance is needed to avoid removing too much wood with the paint.

Port side is now entirely stripped. Looks sorrow without gloss but now I can see all problematic areas which need attention before launch.

To have access to the whole hull in my tiny workshop Glypto is hanging on two ropes in the middle of the shop.

Tonight I’ve started starboard stripping.

Even though no one asks me to move my shop (yet) I can see that heavy equipment is getting closer. I feel time pressure to finish the renovation and launch my dinghy - without her inside it will be much easier to relocate the workshop.

I talked with Odd today - he also has a traditional wooden sailboat - about the way to proceed. We agreed that the next steps should be:

after stripping the whole hull I will sand it with 80 and then 120/180 grid paper to remove all splinters
thorough cleaning with acetone to remove all remains of Ettan/Stayafloat from the seams and planks
reefing out old sealing compound from between the planks
staining with mahogany stain
new seal - brown Sika
saturation of the hull with Owatrol D1 oil
Owatrol D2 oil as a varnish
Järnmönja on the bottom
Antifouling on the bottom

I’m considering plugging all rivets - today they are exposed or puttied with Sika. I’ll need to order more small mahogany plugs from Toplicht.

Withe these done I can launch Glypto and leave inside renovation for after season - if there will be time pressure to move the workshop.

Otherwise I’ll continue with making new laminated ribs and benches.

Glypto. Renovation started

June 02, 2019 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I got few hours to spend on Glypto. I want to launch her this summer and it is probable that Rosättra Båtvarv will ask me to move my workshop so I want to have the boat out as soon as possible.

I’ve decided to strip all paint to bare wood - to see how planks really look like and where is the source of stubborn leak. My provisory repairs last year - when I first launched her - did not last long. This time I will take my time and make it proper so that the dinghy can follow Meritaten when we sail.

I’ve re-arranged the workshop to have the boat in the middle, accessible from all sides.

First thing was to mark the waterline so that when I strip paint and varnish I will know where it was before. Fine line with sharp knife does the trick.

Then I started stripping the bottom paint with hot-air gun and sharp blade. It goes slowly but effortlessly - kind of meditation job or therapy activity.

It is empty now in the boatyard - only few boats on hard, all other are already in the water - so it is calm and I work alone. Tonight I had two visitors thou - first came a guy from Rosättra varvet to check things around and we ended up talking for at least one hour. Turned out he also has a wooden boat - Mälar 22 - and he is trained as a wooden boat builder. I got few good advices!

When I was closing the workshop to call it a day came another gentleman, with dog. It turned out that he is older brother of Jan Gustafsson! So probably he was also building my Meritaten! We had a nice conversation indeed!

Anyway. I managed to strip paint from bottom three planks and could already see some problematic areas.

Before I start oiling with Owatrol D1 I need to fix these problems somehow.

I’ve left the boat and headed home around 10 pm - it is easy to lose sense of time during Swedish summer - there is almost no night right now.

Modern wooden dinghy - temptation!

May 29, 2019 by Lukasz Kumanowski

I’ve found this boat on Blocket, in Stockholm. Size is approximately the same as my Glypto but this boat is a modern wooden boat: build in wood-epoxy technique. It’s been on Blocket for a while so finally I contacted Per and arranged meeting to try her.

This is teak plywood boat, encapsulated in epoxy. Planks are 5mm thick, transom is 10mm. No ribs - the whole strength comes from thick fillets of thickened epoxy. Contrary to my old Glypto this boat is absolutely dry and weights half as much: around 30kg. I can lift it easily and transport on my shoulder.

It’s in perfect shape, hardly used. It comes with small mast, sprit sail, nice oars, centreboard and rudder. Small sailing dinghy.

The asked price was like I paid for Glypto but after some negotiations it became even more affordable.

We’ve put her into water and jumped in: me and Per. I wanted to check if she can carry two adults. She can - as long as the water is calm. She is equally unstable as Glypto.

I’ve left Pålsundet almost sure that I want to buy her but such decisions are better taken after a while so Per agreed to wait one day before I decide.

Temptation was strong - she is beautiful, does not leak, is brand new and very light. And has a mast with sail so why do I hesitate???

Well, in the end I haven’t bought her.
Why in the world not?

I need to write it down so that I don’t have to go through this next time I spot such a beauty.
The problem I want to solve is to have a dinghy which I can take with me when I sail Meritaten to some nice spot and want to explore shallows and small islands. Glypto was bought for that purpose.

The problem with Glypto is that she leaks and most ribs need to be replaced. She is heavy but that does not really matter since she is too big to put her on deck. Or, Meritaten is too small to have such dinghy on deck. This teak dinghy is of equal size, just lighter - so still it will not fit on the deck.

I was thinking about building davits and have dinghy hanging behind Meritaten but again - my boat is too small to have it, she will be too heavy on akter so the trim will be bad.

Glypto, being traditionally build, needs to stay in water the whole season. This new dinghy, in contrary, should not be kept in the water all the time - otherwise I need to paint it with antifouling and be very careful about epoxy layer. This epoxy encapsulation has, in fact, put me off the whole idea.

It’s a good thing on a big, modern wooden boat - epoxy isolates wood from water so the boat is dry and wood never rots. On dinghy however it is very easy to destroy this epoxy layer - when one drags a dinghy onto beach or enters shallow water. Once water gets behind epoxy barrier the wood - or plywood - will get wet and water will be trapped there. Then problems begin…

If my old Glypto gets scratches or lands on stone - no worries. It’s just wood which will get some dents. It will not rot because of that.

Stability of these boats is another concern: they are very wobbly. I have no problem with that but to transport safely my family on such a dinghy is no option. Flat-bottom boat suits us better here. Or rubber dinghy - ugly but stable.

The last thing was that I could sail this tiny dinghy. At least theoretically. After talking with Edgard we came to conclusion that this is indeed just a theory. In practice such small and wobbly dinghy would be very difficult to sail in any wind but fordewind.

So in summary - the answer to my problem is a boat which can carry 3 persons, safely and steady, looks nice, rows well and can be stored on deck of Meritaten. There is such a boat to buy - Nautiraid coracle.

They cost a bit but I’m thinking about building similar boat. It folds flat and can be stored along hand rails on deck. Unfolds in few minutes. A Brompton bike in boat world!

So - either I save money to buy one or I build one. Meanwhile I’ll renovate Glypto to have her in the Archipelago and as a pub boat in Norrtälje - rowing up the river into the city, to have a pint in the evening!

New "to do" list

July 12, 2018 by Lukasz Kumanowski

After 2 weeks under water Glypto is not fully water tight. Moreover, swelling mahogny planks exercised so much power that some oak frames broke. They were already weakened, as I noticed before purchase, and now they gave up. Not a big deal but needs to be fixed after season.

To be able to use her this season I’ve closed the leaks with Ettan on starboard side and Stay Afloat (nice name) on port, to see if one of them is any better. Nope, both do their job and both do it only for some time, Ettan just smells better.
After dragging the boat onto a beach the leaks come back gradually.

Holding Glypto under water for so long has made also varnish bubbling in few spots. That was also expected. Not a big deal as I’m planning to use her as an experiment with oiling, before I take this approach on Meritaten.

I intend to try Owatrol D1 and D2, or Owatrol Ädelölje insdtead of D2. For lapstrake dinghy that should be perfect as maintaining the finish requires no sanding, just applying oil. Sanding lapstrake, with all these joints and cavities behind frames, is no fun.

So now I have another list of things to fix:

remove all old varnish to bare wood
remove all accessible caulking and replace with brown SIkaflex
whack all rivets to bring back the planks and force Sika deeper between joints
oil with D1
oil some more with D1
little more D1
and more
when she stops drinking D1 apply D2
re-apply D2
repair broken bench
build flotation compartments
extend wooden keel for better directional stability - or add side keels
add chafe preventing brass strips onto wooden keel and stem
make new floor (but not necessarily)

I intend also to build simple davits on Meritaten, to be able to lift Glypto from water when not in use. That should enable me NOT painting dinghy bottom with antifouling and keep oil finish longer.

But now - I enjoy this tiny boat very much!

Rowing in the late evening into Norrtälje, on flat water, is a pleasure. She rows like a dream: easy and silent. Big difference to my rubber dinghy which is a pig to be rowed.

30 years in prison...

May 31, 2018 by Lukasz Kumanowski

…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!