ARKHANGELSK, October 2. /TASS/. The first expedition vessel was 'stitched' using traditional technology for the Northern Maritime Museum in Arkhangelsk, the museum told TASS. The vessel will not be an exhibition object. It will be a boat for voyages.

"The Solombala boat, which is traditional for Arkhangelsk, is not a museum exhibit, it is a real boat built specifically for our museum, it is the first expedition vessel in our history," the museum said. "The boat was "stitched" by boat master Mikhail Tsarev in Maymaks at his home shipyard, commissioned by a philanthropist who wished to remain anonymous, and the boat was donated to our museum."

Solombala is a symbol of Arkhangelsk of the 20th century. The boat carries the name of the Solombala historical island, where Peter the Great founded the country's first shipyard.

The newly-made vessel was named the Soyga after a river in the Arkhangelsk Region's Verkhnetoyemsky District. The river is a tributary of the Northern Dvina River. First voyages are planned for the spring and summer of 2027. Presently, the boat is installed in front of the museum entrance on the Northern Dvina embankment.

The Solombala boats with recognizable rounded hull contours and plywood cabins appeared in Arkhangelsk in the late 1950s. They were known as Solombala leisure boats. The boat was 6.22 m long, the width was 1.65 m, the hull was made of pine planks, the frames were made of oak, and the cabin - of plywood. The speed was about 15 km/h, the boat could carry up to 6-8 passengers. The Solombala Shipyard designed the project based on the development by Mikhail Kuroptev, the shipyard's master. The boat used to be equipped with an SM3-12hp diesel engine, popularly called as "top-foot." A stove for heating was normally installed in the cabin.

The Solombala boats were top popular in the 1960s - 1980s. Despite the good capacity, the carrying capacity and the ease of handling, the wooden vessel required constant maintenance. Therefore, by the beginning of the 21st century, wooden Solombala boats became exotic giving way to light and easily-maintained plastic and metal hulls.

The fresh interest in the Solombala boats emerged after the Pomor Shipbuilding Association's shipyard back in 2021 discovered, digitized and published on the web drawings of the Solombala Shipyard's vessels, including those of the Solombala boat.