Dinghy Disposal In the New Forest

Our Boatbreakers team were in a forest near Beaulieu to collect a scrap dinghy. The old dinghy had spent its life moored on the Beaulieu river which cuts through the New Forest. Her owner no longer had a need for her and with no luck finding a buyer he decided to scrap.

When we had first been asked we expected the dinghy to be at his property. Usually an old dinghy is in a garage, on a driveway or even leant up against a garden wall. As we drove through the New Forest we expected to be collecting the dinghy from one of these three locations. It can sometimes be awkward to load a dinghy as they need to be manhandled around gardens and through gates.

After setting off from Gosport in the morning we were soon near the Beaulieu river and in touching distance of the property. We drove carefully along a single track road through the forest that borders the river. It seemed as if we were getting deeper into the forest as we were looking for our turning. Suddenly after a mile or so there was something ahead that stood out from the lush green forest like a sore thumb.

There are the bottom of a lane was a blue dinghy just sat on the road. Our first thought was that this must be the boat in question. But the next thought was that we didn’t want to come all this way just to take the wrong one! The owner hadn’t told us where the boat would be left so we carried on to his house just to make sure. With no sign of the dinghy at the property and no answer from the owner, admittedly in a terrible signal area, we decided the blue dinghy must be the one. Our Boatbreakers team returned back to the dinghy and quickly had it loaded in the trailer.

As we loaded the dinghy two ladies came along the lane on horseback. We were busy strapping the boat down to the back of the trailer. Conscious of the fact it was a single track road and currently we were blocking it. One of the ladies on the horses asked, “Are you the Boatbreakers from Gosport?”, “Yes, we’ve been asked to collect a dinghy and we hope it’s this one” we replied.

“Excellent, yes this is my husband’s boat and he dragged it up from the river to make it easier to collect for you” the lady confirmed as she carried on riding down the track with her friend.

Well that was good enough confirmation for us, if a lady on a horse says so! The team finished strapping down the dinghy and we were quickly on our way back along the forest lane to the main road. We were glad that the owner had dragged her into position for collection. Trying to get the dinghy up the steep bank from the river would have been a challenge. Especially with the amount of rain we’d had.

When the team got back to base we did hear from the owner. He thanked us for a smooth collection and apologised for any confusion earlier in the day. We told him his wife on horseback had helped us identify the boat so there was no trouble.