P'TITE SORAYA

Whist not on Soraya I've still been involved with all things barging. When we bought Soraya she came with a Zodiac inflatable. Whilst this was perfectly functional it looked wrong on Soraya. A couple of years ago I placed an advert on the inflatable and it sold almost instantly in Reims. Since then I have been looking for a replacement, but one which is more in keeping with Soraya. When we bought Kerloc'h the house came with a small fishing boat. It had been made and used by Clet the builder and owner of Kerloc'h. The boat was in the garage but unfortunately it's transom was layed directly on the concrete floor which is slightly moist. We saw straight away the back was rotted out, as in the photograph.

Clet's boat as aquired.

This summer in Kerloc'h I looked again at Clet's boat. Was it possible to restore it? Was it worth restoring? Did I have the skill to restore it? After a lot of pacing around I thought yes! So hack out all the rotten wood and see what we have. Basically it was the transom and a few other small sections that had rotted. Out with the saw and I reduced the boats length by about 150mm. Managed to buy some marine ply (contreplaqué marine) installed it, new hull rubbing strips, lots of sanding, two part filling, general restoration, paint sent over from Southampton, lots of painting, more sanding, painting.... 

Partly restored.

Finally after many hours P'tite Soraya, or whatever we will finally call her is finished in full Soraya colours.

P'tite Soraya in her new livery and no rot.

Enjoyed the project as no time pressures. The first year at Kerloc'h we had the boat in the corner of the salon upright (so you did not see the wrotten bits) and decorated it as a Christmas 'boat'. Kerloc'h is now on the market after 18 years of fun. We'll see what happens. It will be a nice reminder to have a small part of Kerloc'h on Soraya. Only problem now is how do I get the tender to Soraya?