A teenage curiosity has grown into a fully fledged maritime venture, as a restored traditional fishing boat is set to be launched in Cheekpoint this afternoon.

The Reaper, once owned by the late grandfather of local man Jack Doherty, will officially return to the water at 4pm, marking the beginning of a new tourism business on the River Suir.

Doherty, who now works professionally at sea, began the journey years ago while still in school. Wondering what had become of his grandfather’s old vessel, he set out to track it down.

The last family memory of the boat placed it somewhere in Kilkenny — and that hunch proved correct.

After some searching, he eventually located The Reaper sitting in the back garden of a house in the county.

Once he brought the boat home to Cheekpoint, Doherty committed to restoring it.

That effort culminated recently when he travelled to Baltimore, Co. Cork, to collect the fully repaired vessel and bring her back to the village where she once worked the tides.

Under the name Dipps Trips, Doherty plans to operate historical fishing tours from Cheekpoint, offering visitors a chance to experience the heritage, stories, and working traditions of the river.

Speaking about the project, he described the emotional journey of reclaiming and reviving a piece of his family’s past, and the excitement of seeing it return to service in a new way.

In 2015, we came across the boat. So one morning, the whole family went up to this back garden in Kilkenny. Here was the reaper with a tree growing out of it. So we’re looking at this thing. I decided I wanted to buy it.  And my dad, thought I was crazy at the time. Fast forward a few years, we’re not so crazy now,

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