Visiting the home of our Pudgy

A Pudgy awaiting delivery to it's new owner

Those who know us may recall the chubby (but cute) blunt-nosed dinghy on our boat, Instead Of. That tender is called a Portland Pudgy - aptly named as it is made in Portland, Maine, and it is, well...  pudgy. In fact, I think some of you may have even made fun of our little tender, but it truly served its purpose for us.

I surprised Drew by contacting the company to arrange a tour, since we were driving through Portland on our way to Salem, Massachusetts.

The company recently sold, has moved to new headquarters, and sadly they no longer manufacture the dinghy hulls ‘in house’. Although Mike, the new owner of Portland Pudgy, was out of the office the day we visited, we did get to chat at length with Rob, who showed us around. It turns out, he has been with the company for many years, and was almost certainly the one who made our Pudgy!

D and Rob beside the original mold for the Portland Pudgy

We no longer own Instead Of, or its little tender, but we have fond memories of lazy days touring the west coast in Instead Of and in our little Pudgy.