Wooden Boat Site

New Zealand Backyard Boatbuilder : How to Build Your Own Wooden Boat - John Wellsford

January 9, 2006 on 6:56 pm | In Web Sites |

John Wellsford is the man responsible for me turning my carport into temporary boat building shed.

After reading his New Zealand Backyard Boatbuilder : How to Build Your Own Wooden Boat, the carport is on a place that is far to dangerous for my children to play in and a source of constant complaining from my wife about mess and dangerous tools and substances left lying around.

After purchasing a house in the coastal suburb of Beach Haven, Auckland - I thought it might be a good idea to build a boat and take advantage of the nearby Upper Waitemata Harbour. So off I went to the library to see if there were any books on the topic of Boat Building. One book that stood out from the rest was titled Backyard Boatbuilder : How to Build Your Own Wooden Boat.

Perfect! I checked it out and then spent the rest of the day and evening reading it. I then spent the next few nights reading it too.

John manages to detail how to go about building a woodenboat by explaining what tools you need and what to expect in the building process with a high level of knowledge and humour. Also, what I believe makes it a great book, is that the chapters are interspersed with tales of John’s openboat adventures around New Zealand waters. And this is what really made me decide to try and build a woodenboat.

If you want to find out more about John, his boats, and what he is up to the visit his website - John Wellsford - Small Craft Design.