Rescued, two men at sea in a dodgy £9 boat made of foam and coathangers
IT WAS a fishing trip with a very big catch – namely the £9 homemade rowing boat in which the two anglers ventured out on to the open sea.
Built with discarded scraps from house conversions including loft insulation board and polystyrene, it was glued together with silicone sealant.
Amazingly, the 6ft vessel held together long enough for the men to set up their rods and haul in some fish. But they were scuppered when an oar snapped 200 yards off Jaywick, essex, and they had to call 999.
A lifeboat crew arrived to find neither man wearing a lifejacket, and one unable to swim.
Despite the experience, one of the men yesterday pledged to return to the water with another homemade boat.
Jamie Toms, 27, a self-employed builder, said: ‘I’m already thinking about doing it again but next time I’ll get alittle engine instead of oars.
‘The boat itself was solid – it was waterproof. We took it out the day before and we were in it for two or three hours and it floated, no problem. The long and the short of it is that this time one of the oars snapped. They were proper oars but one snapped at the join so we were stranded with only one oar.
‘I only called 999 as I was wor-
‘What’s the worst that could happen?’
ried for my mate as he can’t swim. He was panicking and shaking because it was cold, so I was more concerned for his safety than my own.
‘If it was just me out there I would have tried to swim to shore. What’s the worst that could happen? I would have drowned.’
The boat was put together by Mr Toms’s friend Aaron Jones, who scavenged 4in- thick insulation board, polystyrene and scrap wood.
Coathanger wire was used to make the rowlocks, the rings on either side of the boat that provide the fulcrum for the oars.
The only outlay was £9 on the sealant to glue and waterproof the craft.
Mr Jones, who is also in his 20s, refused to comment yesterday.
But Mr Toms added: ‘We’re just two lads who were bored and wanted to make a boat – why not? It’s better than going out and doing drugs and committing crime. Obviously I said thanks to the lifeguards and sorry for being a bit of an idiot and going out with no safety gear.
‘I was quite calm as I’d already been in that situation before so I knew what to do.
‘In about 2006 me and a few mates bought a rubber dinghy and got p***** up as we wanted to see how far we could get out before needing to be rescued.’
The pair, from Jaywick, lost their anchor, made from scrap iron, in the rescue. But they did come home with a dogfish, two cod and three crabs.
Joff Strutt, of Clacton rNLI, said the lifeboat crew had been stunned by the men’s stupidity. The boat was destroyed.