Boat lovers should check out Irvine's Scottish Maritime Museum. In the massive Linthouse Engine Shop – an old hangar with a cast-iron framework – is an absorbing collection of boats and machinery. Displays cover ropeworking, the age of steam and the Clyde's shipbuilding industry. Every boat here has a story – some tragic. Free guided tours take you down to the dock where you can clamber over various ships, and visitors can also see a shipyard worker's restored flat.
A ticket also gives admission to the boat shop, with its cafe and activity area for kids.