"Da vinci" was built in 1941 for the British admiralty, her true designation is a harbor launch, Pinnace no.41369. We think that she was based somewhere on the south coast of Britain, probably in Portsmouth during her time with the Admiralty, during WWII. She would have been used to ferry cargo, sailors, officers to and thro, to the ships moored out in the deeper water of the port.

(A good friend of ours, Mr. Alan R. Himself being an ex-officer in the merchant navy, aboard passenger liners is trying to find out more of her history, and we thank him very much for his time and efforts).

 

We know from her Records that she was sold on to the private sector in 1950. When she came out of the Admiralty service, she was called Donora. From 1950-1967, we are not too sure about her history. She was brought and sold a number of times in the late 1960`s, always staying around the London area. From the log book, 1 person owned her from 1969-1980 and during this time she had a refit. She was then refitted again, sometime in the 1980`s, when she was owned by a professional pianist. She had a piano in the back cabin where she rehearsed for her concerts. Donora was moored for along time at Ash Island, near Hampton Court, Surrey. During 1990`s, she was sold again, and Finally being sold to Rick Mietkowski in 2003, who used her as his London base.

Rick was in visual effects in the movie industry, and had a fine list of good movies to his credit. Some of which being, James bond, Hitchhikers guide, Event Horizon, Shakespeare in love, Blackhawk down, Entrapment, Fifth Element, lost in space, Blackadder to name a few. He sadly passed away suddenly in June 2006, just after finishing The Da vinci Code. Through family connections we inherited the boat, Donora was then brought out to France and her name changed to Da vinci in honor of Rick and his life`s work in the movies.

 

"Donora on a low loader at Castelsarrasin, France, March 2007.

 Yes, she has been Tango`d, this is the first layer of paint and one of many too come ! four undercoat primers in orange.

 Caulkin, keeping her water tight above the waterline, this took forever !

 After caulking, comes the many layers of  grey primer paint another 4 coats.

Black pudding ©, is used for under the water line to keep her water tight, a kind of mix of tar and putty or cement. (Tiger scheme)

 

 The old wheelhouse, before starting work.

 The old and dated, salon.

With the bulkheads removed Between the salon, toilet, galley and bedroom, the space was incredible. We could then visualize what we wanted from the space, and the new design to come.

Stage 3, refitting

Work starts on the bedroom, repainting the bilge areas, cutting in the new floor, building the base of the double bed. 

       

With the base of the bed in and bulkheads replaced, the bedroom became a wood storing area. The new toilet and wash room now receive the  electricity cables and water pipes along with the new electric toilet, instead of the old Porta pottie  .

The new galley is well underway, with the new 4 ring gas hob, gas oven, sink, fridge and lighting installed. This took a long time as all the cupboards and work tops had to hand made due to the contours of the boat. Once everything was in place the worktops were tiled and everything was connected up.