A Boat? A BOAT?!?!

[Pandora]

I am not a fan of sailing, never have been. But I like boats as objects, particularly wooden ones.

So, when we had the builders in to build us a massive new deck (I like gardening less than sailing!) and were discussing on holiday what we could do to stop folks falling off the end, I had a good idea. We were having the conversation in Portmeirion, so I said to Jennifer, jokingly "what we need is a boat at the end of the deck, like that one. I can sit on it and drink my morning cuppa too".

Rather to my surprise, she was genuinely positive about my daft idea, so we sort of agreed to get a boat!

As it happened, just before I left my pal had shared an ad for a Mirror dinghy for sale locally fairly cheap and needing a bit of TLC. Thinking that as it doesn't need to float, I'll get away with a lot under new paint!

Doing a bit of research, I found this in the period '60s brochure, and that sealed the deal - it was designed to be transported on the roof of a Mini in '63

So today I bought it.

What have I done.......

Al

[Polarsilver]

All Lies ..Back in the day the Mirror is Bloody Heavy .. is made from ply & joints are sealed with resin .. more weight gets added with the boyancy bags + the Mast + Boom + Sails + Rudder + Dagger Board .. even me never would not put our Mirror Dingy up on the Mini Roof "Ladder Racks" because its so heavy to lift up that High and securing ratchet straps were not yet invented .
Our Mirror Dingy is still sitting around donkey years later at Sons house .. However when the Kids + Dog were young they all had great fun in ours sailing in Mudeford Harbour I still get reminded on occasion that Dad put it on the rocks & he also lost the Launching Trailer
My advice .. Best you reseal all the joints so it will not sink ..then repaint it with some left over Mini Paint and go & have a paddle with your Mirror Dingy in the nearest Lake .. you will have FUN.

p.s Its called a Mirror because it was a feature kit boat in that Newspaper at the start of its life.

[Pandora]

I know. It's the nearest I'll ever come to that paper!

Al

[iain1967s]

We put one of those on top of my mini 1000 in the late 80s, with five people (teenagers) inside the car for good measure... talk about overloaded.

So much weight that the floor bowed down, and the center exhaust joint popped apart. We lashed a rope around the exhaust and pulled it taught, then slammed the doors closed to trap it in the door jam. Job done.

Good job we only had to drive about 6 miles on country roads to reach a tributary of the river Cam for launching it.

[Peter Laidler]

We had about 6 of them little 'mirrors' at my school sailing club. VERY versatile little boats. My sons school had a few when he was there from '02 for many years but they are getting old now. Nothing that an average home mini fixer couldn't fix though!

[Pandora]

Well, It's in! Hull painted and interior still to varnish. Picking up mast and other bits during the week.

Jennifer did mention that after 7 years in the house she's still waiting on me painting the doors, but I had the undercoat on this within 2 hours of it arriving!

As the hull clearly gets a lot of its support from the water underneath, the ply has a lot of 'give' in it (it is about 50 years old!) so I devised a cunning system of support using seatbelt webbing to form a sort of hammock under it, and now it's the right way up I'll build a slightly raised duckboard between bearers glued to the inside. (those with eagle eyes will spot the middle of the keel is resting on a tyre - not just any ordinary tyre, Mind, this is a Dunlop racing tyre that last saw action at Le Mans on a 911 RSR! - the things we have kicking around )

It's been quite good fun, really.

Bon Voyage,

Al

[Polarsilver]

Next Project .. To build a large Garden Pond so you can throw away those boat supports and the Old Tyre .. lets see a proper finished job..
Then you can take Wife on Exclusive Mini Cruises

[Pandora]

Ah, the folk at IMM will all be wanting one...…….

Al