In 2022 I relocated Freebooter to her new home on a swing mooring 120m upstream from the Wooden Boat Centre and Living Boat Trust in Franklin, Tasmania.
I had thought about Franklin as a suitable base for Freebooter since arriving in Tasmania but nothing had prepared me for its beauty and the friendliness of its locals.
Franklin is situated a leisurely four hour sail up the Huon River from where it flows into the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. The oldest town in the Huon Valley, Franklin is only ten kilometres downstream from Huonville which offers excellent opportunities for provisions and services and is a 40 minute drive from Hobart.
Before finding my current swing mooring I based Freebooter at the small and welcoming Franklin Marina, right next to the Living Boat Trust.
The water in Franklin is brackish meaning it’s great to help the barnacles fall off the bottom of Freebooter’s hull.
The Living Boat Trust
The Living Boat Trust is a boating community “dedicated to keeping Tasmania’s marine heritage alive and maintaining traditional boat building, repairing, rowing and sailing skills”. Its hub is the shed with a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and changing room. “It has an extensive collection of tools, sailing and rowing gear” and is “the home of good work, good company, good talk, and good food – the last being especially true every Monday evening when [they] host [their] dinners”.