WHISPERING SMITH 2, with more on Wendy Ann 2

ONLY after money had changed hands at the breaker’s yard, and the Wendy Ann was taken out of the water, did it become clear just what a terrible state she was actually in, with her rusted and crumbling hull.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Nov 2013, 17:00 BST
The Wendy Ann 2, berthed in Littlehampton harbourThe Wendy Ann 2, berthed in Littlehampton harbour
The Wendy Ann 2, berthed in Littlehampton harbour

The steel plates of the hull were, one by one, painstakingly and, at a high cost, replaced. Her rotting deck timbers were slowly torn out and rebuilt by owner Seb Pattenden with salvaged hardwood, as was much of the wheelhouse.

After eight years of hard work, here and all over the country, to raise money for restoration, Seb and his wife and co-owner Becky are maybe now just about beginning to see a not-too-distant end to the project, although they know her future maintenance will be endless and costly.

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Wendy Ann has the appearance of a steam tug, with her red funnel, but was in actual fact diesel-driven, although her Lister diesel engine has been removed. Sadly, but realistically, it is likely she will never again move under her own ‘steam’.

Engineless, she was eventually towed into Littlehampton harbour and moored at her present berth.

Seb and Becky have endured their own tumultuous journey getting the Wendy Ann towards being ship-shape, and Seb, in his at times brutally-honest blog, The Voyage of Wendy Ann 2, describes the highlights and heartaches of undertaking such an ambitious project.

It’s well worth a read, with a great deal of food for thought about that dream of owning a boat, one day.