Vancouver family ‘gutted’ after homemade sailboat stolen before Father’s Day weekend launch

A Vancouver man and his family are “gutted” after their homemade sailboat — a pandemic project many months in the making — was stolen just before its Father’s Day weekend launch.

Duncan McDonald said he began building the vessel last year using fibre glass, plywood, two-by-fours and other salvaged materials in order to develop new skills and build fond memories with his family.

The white and green sailboat, affectionately named ‘Saller Doodad’ by his two children, was stolen overnight Thursday ahead of a family camping trip to Sechelt.

“I’m still a little gutted and I still can’t really believe it,” he told Global News on Friday morning. “It’s definitely hard to process — a year of work to do that and here we are in this situation.”

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The vessel, 14 feet long and less than 200 pounds, was hoisted on a trailer and chained to a power pole by the family’s home near East 25th and Fraser streets. When McDonald arose on Friday morning, he said the chain and lock had been cut.

The family had been looking forward to their camping trip for a month, he added, and put the final touches on Saller Doodad, his Father’s Day gift, on Thursday.

“It looked really nice yesterday,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. I have a three-year-old and a six-year-old and they were really active participants in the build. It was a really neat, high-risk high reward situation.”

Students from the school where he teaches also contributed to the fibre glass construction elements, he said.

0:36 Four sailors plucked from Juan de Fuca Strait after boats overturn

The family is now asking the public to keep an eye out for the sailboat, which has a blue tarp sail and a herringbone bulkhead at the bow. The trailer license plate number is WHW 89A.

The Vancouver Police Department confirms it has opened an investigation into the theft.