The eternal hobby

When you have an old boat, you always have something to do

Coppelia had sat in my parents driveway for 10 years, after being kept on mooring and used regularly on Southampton water and the River Itchen before that. She was damp and had a couple of rusty outboard motors rotting in her bilges. But the sails and other stuff had been kept safe and dry.

And so I talked my father into donating her to me, brought her to the Dragonboat club where I was a member, and spent a year and a half renovating her. I fully gutted the hull, then repainted and refurbished inside and out. I replaced window seals, removed an old seating and cooking setup, added a simple electrics system and kept as much of the original woodwork as I could.

The biggest piece of work was removing, renovating and then refitting the keel, all 120Kg of it. When I finally got her shipshape my parents gifted me new sails, and a roller-reefing system for the foresail. Something I am eternally grateful for.

I have a photo album from the renovation project online.

Picture of my boat hanging in the air with the keel being removed through the slot underneath.

Sailing

Why do I do all the work? so I can enjoy myself the rest of the time!

She's a really nice swimming and eating platform during the summer; and the cabin gives privacy and weather/insect protection. With a stove and some clothers packed ready I have a perfect get-away for the occasional night on the lake.

Over the years she has grown a bigger electrical system, complete with a solar panel and a simple fishermans electric motor for windless returns to the club. All the lighting is LED based; and she has a bluetooth soundsystem. The rigging and steering has also been refined over the years, and sh is very well set up for single-handed sailing now.

Picture of Coppelia being blown along by the wind on a rough vacation

The Gaasperplas

The nicest water in Amsterdam.

A Nature reserve created after the 1982 Floriade event, its the nicest place to swim in Amsterdam, great sailing and lots of nature all around.

I am a member of the sailclub, so Coppleia has a 'home port', and a place to live when out of the water during Winter.

A panorama image of the Gaasperplas lake

Boat Days

Renovating, and Using Coppelia

Coppelia in the UK

She was parked in in the corner of the driveway for many a year.

The bilge from Hell

My first view of what I had taken on

People ask if I sailed Coppelia to Holland

The answer is sort of 'yes', but with a bigger ship

Much nicer inside

Mostly just cleaning, drying, cleaning again and painting. Lots of this.

Removing the keel

At 1.5m long, and weighing 120Kg, getting the keel out of it's pivot/slot under the boat took a bit of planning and effort.

The first time I sailed her in Holland

A good moment, it took a lot of work to get to this point.

Port

Starboard

Layout

Fishfinder

I've fitted a cheap fishfinder instead of an expensive 'yatch' depth meter, the bottom of the Gaasperplas is mostly flat, but occasionally interesting lumps appear.

On Holiday, finding solitude

Having my own personal Island for a couple of nights was fun

As far as I got

I spent a few days in the Veluwemeer on holiday, two weeks on the boat in total, a great break

The Rudder, old and new

The remains of the original wooden Rudder (the one that snapped while I was sailing in high winds!), and it's aluminium replacement.

Steve

Everytime I go sailing in the sun I end up being stalked by a Unicorn, most irritating.

Spinaker into the Sunset

I dont often get to use the Spinaker on her; so this is an unusual sight.