At first glance, there is a lot to experience in Rüdesheim am Rhein. Excursion steamers pass by on the river, the railway meanders along the banks. Vines nestle on the slopes, above which visitors float in the cable car. The village lives from wine-growing and tourism. You wouldn't expect to find a boat builder here.
But in the old wine press hall of the Georg Breuer winery, right in the centre of Rüdesheim, amazing things are happening: a slender wooden hull stands on the floor, its owner nimbly switches on the light, shines it and points to two other half-finished hulls. "This is an old wine tank I'm working in here," explains Thorsten Bender. "Isn't that brilliant?"
In fact, the hobby boat builder's "shipyard" is just as unusual as he is. Where white wine was once stored, the 56-year-old is currently building his second boat, a trimaran made of plywood. At just 14 feet long, it fulfils Bender's most important criterion: not too big! In his eyes, his 19-foot boat, which started it all ten years ago, is already big.
Other interesting DIY projects:
From the mountains to the water
At the time, the sporty man with the alert eyes is once again on a climbing trip with his girlfriend. Costa Brava, Côte d'Azur - his hobby draws the couple to the most beautiful spots by the sea. In the evenings, they visit the harbours. That's where the plan was born to one day sail their own boat to go climbing, says Bender, who was born and grew up in Heidelberg. "Not exactly a maritime hotspot," he smiles. But he was already building pirate ships as a child. The dream of one day owning his own boat never quite left him.
After this holiday, he gets serious and buys a Sea Wych 19, a British chine keeler, in the Black Forest. For Bender, who had never sailed before, it seemed just right: solid, with an outboard motor and trailer. It is christened "Lebowski" after the owner's favourite film.
The maiden voyage takes them down the Rhine. The skipper is excited, he has never been sailing before. Like so many things in his life, he wants to learn on his own. It is a marvellous day on the water - albeit under motor - and soon the sailing novice dares to take on the Baltic Sea and the Adriatic.
His season is the non-season
He prefers to sail "radically off season", i.e. from February to May, when the harbours are empty and he is not yet on stage. Bender's profession is music. He has been playing drums in a rock 'n' roll band for 22 years - almost exclusively in summer. "When everyone is on the water, I don't have time. That's when I earn my money and play."
He spends the rest of the year doing other things - such as building boats. He quickly realises that sailing is his thing on the trips with "Lebowski". Even if some things go wrong at first. First, water ingress at the sink's seacock caused a rush of adrenaline, later a leak at the echo sounder's passageway caused a sleepless night. For the passionate craftsman, it is the impetus to give his boat a mammoth refit. "I've really let off steam here!"
Below deck, he builds new storage space, a new galley and a swivelling saloon table on a bracket from the drum kit. The hatches are laminated tightly, and instead of a toilet, a bucket is installed on board - with a toilet seat and a lid made of varnished wood.
Bender refurbishes the deck, reinforces the mast support and builds two new sliding bulkheads for his boat, which offer more living space on long journeys. Finally, a form-glued bowsprit for the new gennaker is added to the boat, which is only 5.79 metres long and displaces one and a half tonnes.
Many things go on board "that make life possible on longer journeys", says Bender. A net that is hung in the water together with a beer can serves as a replacement for a fridge. An inflatable kayak becomes a dinghy. The solar cell, radio antenna and anchor light can be stored on the equipment carrier, as can the mast when towing.
Everything is spartan, but wonderful."
He had even thought about a wind steering system. However, the cost and weight have so far put him off. After all, there are no plans to cross the ocean with the boat yet.
Bender closely observes all those who race their small, often self-built boats across the open sea. For example, the Frenchman Yann Quenet, who recently sailed around the world on a four-metre boat, or the grand seigneur of the microboat scene, the Swede Sven Yrvind. "But these guys are in a different league," he knows. Although Bender could well imagine sailing around the world in a small boat himself, he has other plans for the time being.
From gig to gig, from party to party, "Walt Bender" - his stage name - travels from early summer to autumn with his band colleagues from " Krüger rocks !". Through Germany and Europe, wherever the rock 'n' roll musicians are booked. Sailing, alone, has become the perfect antidote to his job.
My job is to throw the party for others".
"I have to be in a good mood all the time, every evening. Sailing off into the sunset like a cliché and not having to talk to anyone is a great balance. A trip of less than six weeks is almost a bit hectic for me." So he sets off every spring before the season really starts - both on stage and on the water.
But somehow sailing in the summer, when there's a short break between two gigs, would also be quite nice. But where and how? Just trailering for a few days is too time-consuming for him. So a new vision creeps into Bender's creative mind.
The idea of a new pocket cruiser
He has in mind a boat that he can push onto the bed of his van, which can be rigged within ten minutes and with which he can take a quick trip to Holland. The most important key data: It must be a maximum of 2.50 metres long and 1.15 metres wide and must still fit through the door of his former workshop on edge.
Pocket cruisers are mini sailing boats that are barely bigger than an Opti and whose fans are mainly to be found in the USA, Australia and New Zealand. They seem perfect for Thorsten Bender's plans: open the car door, put the boat in, close the hatch and get away for a few days. He simply wants to go sailing with a cuddly boat that he would build himself.
Bender wouldn't be himself if he didn't enjoy this challenge immensely. "I like crafting! And if a man isn't a lumberjack in Canada, he at least has to build a boat," he says and laughs. Before starting to build, he browses forums, watches YouTube videos for hours, orders piles of used magazines and follows the activities of other self-builders.
He doesn't buy plans for a particular type of boat, but makes a little man out of cardboard - himself - and a model ship around it.
Once I knew what I wanted it to look like, I just got started."
"I had already sailed. You get a feel for what works and what doesn't if you're reasonably practical."
And that's him, constantly rebuilding, extending or repairing something. After dropping out of secondary school to become a rock star, he spent a year training at a painting company. But he taught himself most of the skills. He had already dismantled cars and restored antiques professionally for a while before his music career really took off. "I'm a good all-round craftsman," says Bender.
Finding solutions is a lot of fun."
Firstly, the base plate of the new boat is created, then the bulkheads are fitted and bolted in place. "I worked a lot with auxiliary mouldings," explains Bender. Then the sides are planked. After nine months of construction and three layers of laminate, the boat weighs an impressive 150 kilograms and is finished. With the help of two long planks, the owner can roll it into the transporter on his own. He quickly bolted two wheels to the keel, which is filled with scrap iron, so that they stay on even when sailing.
Tinkering can be found everywhere on board
For example, the mirror on the superstructure, which allows the skipper to look aft without straining his neck. When steering, he sits in the centre of a kayak seat with a backrest and looks forwards - after initial tests on the water showed how tippy the vehicle is when he sits sideways and steers with the tiller.
An empty bracket on the starboard side catches the eye. "That's for the fish finder, which shows the water depth. But I don't need it. If it gets too shallow for this boat, I can see the bottom." There are two paddles on board for calm days.
Bender goes wild with the details. He built the rudder blade in the shape of a guitar, the mast base is adorned with remnants of an antique piece of furniture and the superstructure is a belt buckle with a drum motif.
The "48 Crash", as Bender christened his tiny boat after a hit from 1973, looks a little like a floating doll's house. Everything is cute, undersized and made with attention to detail. Bender, not exactly a giant, looks like one when he sits in the ship.
Wherever he appears with it, he is the attraction.
I underestimated how much attention I would attract with the boat."
He now prefers to get out of the car in places where hardly anyone passes by. He avoids harbours. But the reactions are always positive. He has already been asked whether the boat is for sale or whether he would build it again as a commission. Bender waves it off. "That was still in the phase when I said: 'Never again! Besides, it wouldn't be economically feasible," says the boat builder, who has not counted his working hours.
But the money involved in the boat is: around 1,000 euros in material costs, "almost a bit much," says Bender.
Other interesting DIY projects:
The self-builder is a recycler of leftovers
He loves to reuse things and give them a new meaning, he is a hunter and gatherer - formerly at flea markets, now on the Internet. He builds or rebuilds things himself with great passion. For example, the flagpole in the shape of a drumstick on the "Lebowski" or the equipment carrier made of VA pipe including the "Mufubre" ("My multifunctional board, which is a ladder, seat and workbench"). The boat hook on the "48 Crash" is an old mop handle with a screwed-on hook.
"I recycle leftovers," says Bender, who collects his treasures in large drawers. "I find it incredibly boring to just buy something new. I only enjoy using boats if I've built or converted them myself."
This attitude helps him to save money: "I earn enough for the whole year during the summer, but that requires a certain frugality," reports Bender. The fact that he can devote his free time to his boat-building hobby in a spacious hall with an adjoining workshop - and without paying rent - is thanks to his partner. She owns the Georg Breuer winery on which he builds. "It wouldn't be possible without Theresa; I don't play with the Stones."
The two got to know each other 14 years ago. Bender's band played at an event at the winery. They stayed in touch and became a couple. Theresa Breuer jets around the world for work, while her partner is on stage. They spend the little free time they have together climbing or cruising on the "Lebowksi".
Thorsten Bender returns the favour by doing manual work around the winery. "I'm the honorary caretaker," he says with a laugh. He is happy when something comes off for him, like a recent roll of Armaflex during the construction of the new warehouse for the wine. The boards for the new building were delivered in plywood crates - which ended up in Bender's treasure trove rather than in the rubbish bin. He has long been dreaming of a third boat.
The minimalist enjoys crossing the Sneekermeer with his self-built boat at a maximum of three knots. "It really does feel like the sea." But five to six nights at anchor is the ultimate feeling. "As soon as you lean to one side, you tip halfway out," admits the amateur boat builder. "It only gets a little better if you moor it alongside the pier."
Next time we will build strictly according to plan
He also wants his next boat to be faster for short trips. Bender rummages through portals with free construction plans and finds a small trimaran, type Drifter 14, by the American Mark Gumprecht. "It's a completely different concept to the 'Crash', but you have to keep developing," he says, opening a few hatch covers on the outriggers into which the former transport crates have already been transformed under his hands.
The hatches and a few details were the only modifications, otherwise he would build strictly according to plan this time. As far as possible. For the trampoline, the thrifty man has already bought privacy tarpaulin for building fences. He wants to stretch it twice and sleep on it later in the tent. The finished hull is said to have cost him a good 700 euros.
His only worries are the rig and sails. He has already gathered inspiration and material for this too. An old surf mast hangs under the ceiling of the wine tank. He also bought a dinghy with rig and sail for one euro. Option number three is the flagpole in the garden. "Unfortunately, I don't have anyone here to talk to about rigging and sails," regrets Bender, whose son is an orthopaedic technician and used a professional sewing machine to sew together the brown cloth for the "48 Crash" according to Bender's specifications.
Sails are one of the few things that I buy new. Simply because I can't make them myself."
But even in construction, not everything always goes right first time - which Bender doesn't find dramatic. "Perfection becomes bourgeois at a certain level," he says, but he also knows that the devil is in the detail. "You have to build with foresight, which I don't actually do, but think of a solution when a problem arises."
Like after the trial runs with the "48 Crash", when he realised that his first boat was sailing "really slowly" and was getting stuck at the stern. "It was simply too short," he realises today. To remedy this, he built a 50-centimetre stern extension that can be screwed on and off so that the boat still fits in the van.
That did the trick!"
Only once did something almost go really wrong. When laminating the "48 Crash", he used polyester resin instead of epoxy resin for cost reasons. "The styrene odour wafted through the wine cellar and the cellar master was afraid that the entire vintage would be unusable." It took two weeks for the odour to dissipate - but the wine was not damaged.
Bender is not alone in his enthusiasm for tiny sailing boats: his four-minute picture show with construction photos of the "48 Crash" and the title "Very small homemade sailboat" has over 140,000 views on YouTube. Small hand-built sailing boats - Thorsten Bender would never swap them for a large ship with more comfort. The reason, he says, is obvious:
As a minimalist, the freedom is simply so much greater!"
