[None of these are my photographs]. I was on the back of the bike the other day just scoping the surroundings, when something caught my eye. A gigantic duck. Rather realistic but gigantic. It was a boat! I looked it up when we got home and it looks like it is one of two in the world. I cannot find out much about it but here is a description
The driver’s seat is up in the duckhead where a seat can be folded out. You can sunbathe on the “duck’s” back. Eight people sit comfortably around the stove. The sauna can accommodate four people. The boat is inspected for max. 8 people (7+1). In Fin-Duck you can e.g. hold a party, spend a summer evening with family or friends, take a sauna, grill sausages or sunbathe on the duck’s back. We promise you an experience you won’t soon forget! Dimensions: length 5.5 m, width: 2.6 m, height in the saloon 1.95 m, draft 0.25 m, weight 900 kilos, speed about 5 knots.
And the story behind it is soooooo cute!
This mallard gave its contemporaries a fright as it docked at Huvudsta beach. “Alex And” is a boat, sauna, sled and caravan in one.
Not unexpectedly, the boat duck has a colorful history behind it. The designer has managed to squeeze a sauna into the bow – and quite literally, “Alex Duck” was created in Finland some 15 years ago. ‘I was told that you could get EU money for projects that benefited tourism. So I thought about it and sent in a miniature of the boat duck’, says Bo Åkerlund at the family business Modultech in Jakobstad.
The officials were excited about the idea and the EU covered 60 percent of the development costs.
The boat tank has an outboard motor but also built-in wheels and paddles. It can therefore be used both as a sled and a caravan. On board there is a small lounge, a kitchenette – and of course a wood-burning sauna. ‘Everything is handmade’, says Bo Åkerlund.
But the duck boat was never a sales success. It was only built in two copies. ‘I’m probably more of a carpenter than a businessman’ admits Bo Åkerlund.
For several years he used one of his two duck boats himself. ‘You get in a good mood by bobbing around in the duck. People got excited when they saw the boat and the grandchildren always asked where I had the duck’
Two years ago, Bo Åkerlund took his odd craft to a boat fair in Sweden – and managed to get it sold for 30,000 euros. Actually, the boat costs considerably more to manufacture. But the duck was becoming a little used. It is unknown why “Alex Duck” has been puttering around in Solna’s water for the past few weeks. The editors have searched for the current Swedish owner without success in reaching him.
The other duck boat has been sold in Finland and is somewhere in the country’s southern waters. [source]
