One hundred pounds well-spent on ebay
by Howard Massie 30 Mar 2020 13:51 HKT
Scorpion number 1862 repainted, revarnished and repaired © Howard Massie
Following on from our story of a £100 Europe dinghy restored to glossy varnished beauty, is another £100 dinghy, this time a Scorpion.
Howard Massie purchased number 1862 via ebay a couple of years ago. He said, "It was a really sad sight on a wet Autumn day, full of water and sitting unloved on the sea front.
"I stripped it to bare wood, sanded and cleaned it and made a few repairs, then gave it a smart new paint job and several coats of varnish. I think it looks pretty good now! I'm looking forward to launching her at Llandegfedd once the club can open again."
This isn't his first time restoring either; Howard recalled, "In the past few years I've bought several great wooden boats on ebay, including an ex-championship winning Fireball, an Enterprise, another Scorpion and a Solo. All have been complete with trailer, trolley, cover etc and all have cost just a few pounds (well, normally less than 300)."
His top tip? "I always look for boats built in the epoxy era because these generally clean up really well and are long-lasting."