I do not sleep very well, often only a couple of hours a night, sometimes less, so it was not surprising that I was half watching 'Salvage Hunters, the Restorers' on the Quest Channel at 6 am this morning. To my delight one of the dealers had bought a vintage pond yacht for restoration. It was about a metre in length, nice lines and he said he'd paid £600 for it but knew nothing of pond yachts. So he was handing it over to a professional model maker to restore. It looked a good classical pond yacht with a long shallow keel with a weight at the bottom, in not too bad condition, but still needing a fair amount of work. The dealer said he would like it converted to RC. The hull had been carved from one piece of wood and well hollowed so that the sides at the gunwhales were probably less than 5mm. The hull was well rubbed down and varnished, then the deck put back in place. A circular hole was cut in it and a hatch to go over it made. A module containing a steering servo, winch servo, battery and receiver was placed inside the hatch, but unfortunately we did not see how anything was connected up. The decks were finished with a moulded covering board and various brass fittings. She was rigged as a traditional gaff sloop with the jib tack going down to a shortish bowsprit. We were shown some footage of classical looking model yachts sailing on what I believe was the Round Pond and then this boat sailing on another pond. She looked and handled well, quite fast. They did not give a final valuation which I thought was a pity, but the dealer went away looking very happy. Knowing this programme I would not be at all surprised if it was on again at a more accessible time, so might be worth keeping an eye on the listings.

Cheers, Nerys