Paignton boat builder removes patio door to launch ‘fatter’ vessel

A man who built a 16-foot sailing dinghy in his house was forced to remove his patio door to get it out.

Ex-land surveyor Steve Goodchild, from Paignton, spent 13 hours a day for the past three months to complete the vessel he named Barnacle.

Goodchild told the BBC had he stuck to his original design it would have sailed through the door without any problem.

Once out, the wooden Stornaway, which he started building in 2017, was put on wheels and taken to Paignton harbour.

It had not made it out on to the patio as “being a bit inventive”; Goodchild added a deck to it which meant it got “fatter and wouldn’t go through the door frame”.

But by taking the door and the frame out, the problem was solved.

“It was a very tight fit but we managed,” Goodchild says.

Barnacle‘s maiden voyage on Saturday was plain sailing.

“It was blowing probably a force five or six which is a bit much for a sailing dinghy, but I was determined to get it out and so I motioned it out of Paignton harbour, I put the sails up and it went like a bird,” says Goodchild.

“It was absolutely wonderful, I loved it.”

Goodchild’s build has been covered extensively in epoxycraft, from how to build a wooden dinghy, to making the cedar masts and completing the hull.

Watch the build take place.