Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LEFT HIGH & DRY
Boat set to be Airbnb is stuck on River Foyle
I’m willing to take any help I can get... this has set us back further NATHAN ROSS BELFAST YESTERDAY
THE owner of a boat stuck in the River Foyle says he “hasn’t given up hope” of retrieving the vessel and converting it into an Airbnb.
Nathan Ross, who lives on the Shankill Road in Belfast, took the craft off the hands of the previous owners after they bought it for £1 but didn’t know what to do with it.
Mr Ross and his business partner Druso Martinez de Riquelme from Madrid had big plans to make the vessel available to tourists at the Titanic Quarter.
However, the new owner ran into a dilemma straight away when Day Dawn N182 ran ashore in August while out on a test drive and lost steering power.
Mr Ross said they “lost total control of the boat” having no choice but to turn it onto mud flats, where it has remained for the last eight weeks.
He has now “spent thousands” trying to get the boat ready for its new home in Belfast.
He said: “A friend of mine actually bought the boat for a pound. I paid nothing for it because they didn’t know what to do with it.
“The electric and the engine actually needed fixed and when I found out about it I told them that I would take it off their hands.
“I went down to Derry and I saw what it needed so I could try and get it from Derry to Belfast. I rewired it and sorted the engine out.
“We had a nice plan to turn it into this Airbnb that people could use at the Titanic Quarter. My business partner has experience with Airbnb’s and I am a handyman, so that is what we decided we were going to do.”
Mr Ross said this is his fifth boat and he had been “looking forward to the project”.
He added: “We’ve just had no luck with it so far, we lost all control of the steering. The hydraulic hose burst and it was either head towards the Foyle Bridge or put it into the position where it sits today.
“Thankfully we managed to come away unscathed but now this has set us back even further.
“I’m probably going to have to hire out a tractor and I am hoping I get it out sooner rather than later.”
The new owner said he hopes to dig out the vessel within the next week before getting it ready to sail to Belfast. He added: “If anybody in Derry can help point me in the right direction, I’m willing to take any help that I can get.
“I haven’t given up hope of moving the boat. I go down and see to it, I haven’t abandoned it.”