A team from Queen’s University Belfast will travel to Gaoth Dobhair this week as part of efforts to preserve the wreckage of Bád Eddie.
The infamous fishing boat washed up on the beach at Magheraclogher Strand in Bunbeg over 40 years ago.
It was originally thought some minor repairs would help the boat go back on its way back in 1977.
But that plan never quite happened and the structure has been part of the local landscape ever since.
The fishing boat is a popular tourist attraction while locals also pose beside it for weddings, communion and even christening photographs.
It has featured in Vogue magazine as well as in music videos by Clannad and U2.
However, Bád Eddie, built in the western French region of Brittany, has fallen into serious disrepair over the last 43 years and is in danger of disintegrating completely.
Its future has now been taken up by a local committee who hope to preserve and design a replica structure to replace it to keep tourism alive.
The committee launched its campaign with a concert at the wreck featuring some of Donegal’s best-known musicians including Clannad singer Moya Brennan and Altan’s Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh while a Gofundme page has raised over €7,000.
The organisers have appealed for help to preserve and restore the boat.
A team from the Northern Ireland Technology Centre, based at Queen’s University, is due in the area later this week to create 3D images which will help with designing a second, permanent structure.
The committee set up to save the boat is part of the tourism appeal of the area and want to bring it back and preserve it for many years to come.
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