A Nova Scotia man has spent the last three years building a replica of the famous merchant vessel the HMS Bounty.

As a retired fisherman and shipwright, Walter Longmire has spent his life on the water.

For ten years, Longmire built draggers for Nova Scotia fishermen. Now, the 79-year-old has undertaken the task of building a 14 foot replica of the HMS Bounty in his garage in Granville Ferry, N.S.

“When you're doing something like this, you always have to keep in the back of your mind what it's going to look like when you get done,” says Longmire. “Cause if you didn't do that, you wouldn't get through it.”

The HMS Bounty was originally a British ship that sailed during the 1700s. In 1960, a replica was built in Lunenburg, N.S. for the movie ‘Mutiny on The Bounty.’ Longmire was on shore and watched as the ship set sail for the very first time. It's a moment he'll never forget.

“It was really something else,” recalls Longmire.

The replica Bounty sank in 2012 off the coast of North Carolina during a run in with Hurricane Sandy.

“I was kind of startled by it, because I don't think he used good judgement, you know what I mean? The boat was quite old and in hard shape,” says Longmire.

Now three years later, Longmire has a Bounty of his own.

His replica may be scaled down in size, but there's no shortage of details – everything from tiny lights, little windows, and miniature cannons.

Longmire says his favourite part about the ship is the steering gear.

“I figured that out right from the book and it works and it didn't cost $8 million,” says Longmire. “I'm proud of it.”

What makes Longmire’s replica extraordinary is he built the sailboat with just one sheet of plans, which are printed in Spanish – a blueprint of the original Bounty.

“For him to figure out how to build it is really something,” says Laurie McGowen, Longmire’s neighbor.

McGowen lives down the street from Longmire, but didn't meet him until a friend mentioned what he was building.

McGowen had a special interest in Longmire’s project; he is working with a Halifax-based company trying to build a full scale version of the Bounty.

“The hull itself is a really accurate replica to the 1700s original Bounty, but he's done such a fantastic job,” says McGowen.

Once Longmire has added the sails and a few coats of paint, his Bounty will be ready to set sail.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Matt Woodman