The LEGO Group has released numerous ships over the years but they don’t always fall within the LEGO Pirates theme. Not to worry! Sometimes these ships can be customised to rectify that problem!

Delusion Brick shows us how it’s done with 40487 Sailboat Adventure which was released as a Gift With Purchase in mid 2021. He’s taken the yacht and turned it into a fine little blue coat Soldier vessel Governor Broadside would be quite pleased with… and he’s also replaced the dolphin with a shark to amplify the level of peril.

Now take a closer look and see what potential this set has for LEGO Pirate MODs!

Delusion Brick writes:

My alternative MOC build of (40487 Sailboat Adventures)

What is 40487 Sailboat Adventure?

If you haven’t been keeping up with the news, “Sailboat Adventure” started life as a creation named “Sailing Ship Adventure” by Yc_Solo. It was built for the “Build that holiday into THAT holiday!” contest which was officially hosted by the LEGO Group during 2020. The purpose was to find a suitable build to become the basis of a Gift with Purchase set.

So therefore the sailboat is not available for regular retail sale and can only be officially purchased from the online LEGO store. But not to worry, those scalpers sellers will flog it to you for less than US$20 on eBay, if you don’t want to purchase it the intended way.

Not available on toy store shelves… or is it?

But at the time of writing, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, is still available on LEGO.com, so go ahead and treat yourself – as a reward you can choose the sailboat and have the makings of a small pirate ship in your possession!

The LEGO Ideas Submission

The original “Sailing Ship Adventure” hasn’t evolved much from what Yc_Solo submitted, the most notable changes being the minifigures and updated dolphins… and you’re deprived of the complimentary desert island and palm tree.

This is the original submission by YC_Solo

Here is the description from LEGO Ideas:

Have you ever wanted to travel around the world, sailing away on your own ship on the turquoise waters amongst the dolphins? With this little sailing boat model you could do all that and enjoy a beautiful sunset at sea.

The whole model contains exactly 250 parts. There are 216 parts for the boat (sails and mast: 69; cabin: 24; frame: 123) Then I used up the remaining parts for added features: Dolphins: 9; Palm tree: 16; Minifigures: 8; seagull: 1.
The body itself is buildable, composed of slope elements and lateral curved plates joined at their extremeties; this allowed to maximize inner space, add a wooden floor and a sturdy support for the mast. Sails are also brick-built. The cabin can be removed to show the inner rest space. Sails can rotate, just make sure you untie the ropes first! An anchor and a few gold elements completes the ship.

For minifigures I imagined a romantic pair. That sailor was an immediate participant; as soon as he heard a ship was made, he jumped on board!

As of October 2021, it rates 3.9 out of 5 based on 9 customer reviews.

About the Builder…

Delusion Brick is certainly not delusional when it comes to building LEGO Pirate creations! He has Instagram, Flickr and a LEGO Ideas profile, so you should follow all of them! Particularly his LEGO Ideas profile so you can vote immediately when submits more Pirate themed creations.

About You

You should acquire this set if you have not already done so, and then you should create variants for the LEGO Pirates theme. What would a red coat Imperial Guard sailboat look like?  What would an Imperial Armada sailboat look like? What would a Pirate version of the sailboat look like?

These are all questions which need to be answered! Sail over to the LEGO Pirates Forum to discuss the possibilities with the Classic Pirates, or if you happen to have already created a pirate variant of the sailboat, share your photos…