Mirror Dinghy (Wombat) - Maiden Voyage - New Years Day 2012

I put an ad in the paper - "if you've got an old mirror dinghy in the shed and want it to go to a good home, give me a call".

A lovely gent by the name of David responded. Yes he had an old mirror that he had built in the 70s and didn't have the time to restore or sail it. It was a beautifully crafted amateur-built Mirror - far nicer than most.

The restoration was pretty simple:
* remove all fittings
* reglue the gunwhales
* new bow braces
* strip off the old paint and varnish
* epoxy all gaps/holes/major joins
* revarnish (4 coats)
* repaint (3 coats)
* re-bed all fitings with sikaflex 291
* replace running rigging with 3mm spectra, 4mm prestretch and 8mm nylon braid
* source a nice set of Steve Walker sails
* go sailing!

Here's the video of the maiden voyage - she's a beauty!!!!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• mirror dinghy
• New Year's Day
• sailing
• maiden voyage
• restoration
• Boat
• steve walker

[ricdanger2]

Good pickup Kognito... You are indeed correct.

The sails came from a donor Mirror whose hull had completely rotted out. The original owner of Wombat had lost the sails moving house! As I don't race, it's no big deal not having the sail numbers match the hull number so I left it.

[lienagem]

Great score, I had similar luck picking this mirror up. Not in as good condition as yours but still seaworthy. My youngest isn't completely taken with the sails flapping when we tack so we have done about 50/50 sailing and motoring with a little outboard we have. I will post a video of it sailing soon.

[Kognito72]

Looks nice but the sail number looks more like it was made in the 80s.

I was sailing a mirror numbered 18494 in the 70s.