Not very far from where we live in downtown Bodrum, sandwiched between a bakery and mini market is a small shop about the size of an average home kitchen.

When the door is open one can observe an older gentleman working on model boats. In fact, ‘ model’ is a bit of an understatement. These are more accurately actual scale replicas of gulets generally about 1 to 1.5 m in leng h.

He painstakingly builds these perfect small craft in exactly the way the original is done.  If it is a classic plank on frame boat that is the way he builds it and if it a more modern yacht he uses an epoxy laminate system.

A couple of days ago on way back from the boatyard I saw that he had a boat outside on the footpath. I dropped the car at home grabbed the camera and walked back up the road.  When I arrived there I found not one but three replicas on stands.   The unusual thing was they were not of private or charter gulets but of the original fishing and sponge diving boats. As usual they were perfect in every detail.

Miniature gulets and tirhandils in downtown Bodrum

When asked about his usual client base, the gentleman indicated that gulet owners who wished an exact replica of their beloved yacht for their mantelpiece as making of a large number of his clients.

Mutlu Karademir, personal fitness trainer for Bodrum’s elite at the Marmara Hotel with clients as far away as Hong Kong and Paris, also whittles away on miniature, lifelike gulets in his spare time.  He was recently commissioned to create an exact replica of the luxury gulet ‘That’s Life‘.  Over six months of painstaking attention to detail and here are the final results to adorn the owner’s home:

Custom Built Miniature Gulet

Let’s hope he continues to produce these miniature masterpieces.

Here is a miniature replica of the luxury gulet ‘Blue Eyes’ on display in the main saloon of the yacht itself.

Miniature model of luxury gulet Blue Eyes

We wonder if they float?

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