The Destiny of Miss Patty — Local sailor ready to set miniature vessel to sea for charity
Local Vietnam-era U.S. Navy veteran Dietrich “Pete” Schaeffer likes to keep busy in his free time. As a musician, he enjoys strumming a tune on one of his unique guitars (including his hand-and-self-crafted “Strato-crapper”) or tickling the ivories on the keyboard. As an artist and builder, he has fun tinkering with mechanics and all things nautical.
After building a smaller scale-model replica of a vintage harbor tugboat several months back, he took it up a few speeds and custom-crafted his most recent creation: a fully functional scale-model replica of a converted commercial tugboat yacht, complete with fully operational running lights, rudder and propulsion, powered by a six-channel remote control and 12-volt deep-cycle AGM battery.
But Pete didn’t just craft this vessel for the fun of it; he built the five-foot solid-fiberglass-hulled craft in the hopes that it can help raise funds for local veterans and other non-profit charities. The Miss Patty, lovingly named after his wife, was operational and large enough to require official Florida registration and marine licensing/tags, and with that, Pete would love a local charity to benefit from a bay-to-gulf fund-raising trip with the vessel, or perhaps in the future, a Fort-Myers-Beach-to-Key-West trip, with the mini-yacht pulling a boarded kayak all in the name of charity.
“I’ve always had a fascination with boats and anything nautical I?grew up on the water,” Pete said. “I want to use this boat to help raise funds for someone local veterans clubs, local charities anything that can help someone or some non-profit organization.”
With the hopes the Miss Patty will assist with our veterans, local world-renowned artist Craig Petersen was happy to jump on deck and offer his services, hand-painting a very patriotic “Vets” logo on her upper deck and “Pulling for Vets” along the bridge, not to mention the text across her stern.
“As an artist, it’s always fun to be a part of a larger creative project with others,” Craig said.
Pete is also eager to begin a scale-model boat club with anyone interested. Rather than build for others, he prefers to teach the craft so they can learn and build on their own. Give him a call.
“If anyone has any ideas about who we can help raise funds for with the Miss Patty, please feel free to call me 239-822-4650,” Pete said.