A PART-TIME sailor is spending all his spare time restoring a boat in his garden shed in landlocked Tavistock.

Ian Lashrook is hoping to launch his 18-ft long coastal fishing boat Miss Katie onto the sea this summer.

But to do so, he has to complete the woodwork on the Plymouth Pilot and fit a new engine, then employ a crane to remove her from his shed.

Ian is well-equipped to bring Miss Katie back to seaworthiness because he is a skilled woodworker, having been employed on most of Tavistock Town Council’s wood projects for the past 46 years.

He is due to retire later this year with plans to spend many a happy day bobbing up and down on his boat off the coast of South East Cornwall.

He said: “I’m looking forward to getting Miss Katie back on the water in Looe where she came from and going out to Looe Island and drifting down to Seaton and coming back. I’ll be doing a spot of fishing and generally taking life very easy after many years working.

“I love being on the water and have always had boats and fished. My mum used to take us family to Looe or Sandy Bay at Exmouth and it grew from there.

“When I was younger I had the fast petrol boats and sped around on the water. But now I’m older and petrol’s so expensive, so it makes sense to take life slower and go for the diesel.”

Ian bought Miss Katie for a bargain £1,000 in Looe and his sons helped with a trailer and cranes to put her in his shed where he is replacing or renovating the wooden gunwhales (where the hull and deck meet), foredeck (front), inner stern, inner cabin, flooring and floor and hull ribs/supports.