Backyard Boatbuilding is primarily a non-commercial and advertising-free source of valuable information for those interested in building wooden boats in their backyard. Whether you are simply daydreaming about building your first boat (we all start that way, don't we?), are part way through building one and need some help or guidance, or already have a backyard built boat or two on the water, all are welcome here. And all may take away from the site whatever information they may wish to glean from it.

Some five years ago my wife, Jeannette, sat down with me one evening and suggested we think about living aboard a boat. She had in mind a Dutch Barge as she had been browsing the Internet and seen a number of designs on a website in Holland that really took her fancy. They were steel hulled 50 to 60 footers with just about everything that opens and shuts aboard.

It has to be said that it is quite unusual in my experience for wives to come up with such ideas. My father had embarked on a huge project many years ago of building his own 55’ ketch and the resistance he had from my mother was both hostile and uncooperative. It ended, as do so many large boatbuilding projects, in an extremely acrimonious divorce.

I was, therefore, very pleasantly surprised by Jeannette’s suggestion. On reflection, it was perhaps less surprising than it sounds. I had been an airline pilot most of my life and Jeannette was an ‘air hostess’ (back in the days when that is indeed what they were, rather than simply ‘cabin crew’). We had flown throughout the UK and Europe, often on the so-called ‘bucket and spade brigade’ flights into holiday destinations. People often had said to us how lucky we were to enjoy such wonderful destinations but the truth is that airports and runways are much the same anywhere you go and staying in five star hotels becomes awfully boring after many years of doing it. Despite flying to many exotic destinations, the reality was that we had seen very little of them. Both of us longed to go off and explore these places up close and personal, spending time on the ground among the people who live there.

Where boatbuilding is concerned, I had helped my father build his boats and spent many pleasurable hours working on cats and kayaks. Nothing big, mind you, but my father was a highly skilled carpenter/ joiner and cabinetmaker and his abilities were without doubt exceptional. Much of my knowledge about woodworking and boats was gleaned from him and he had perhaps passed on some of his talent in my genes. At least, I like to think so.

Together, Jeannette and I looked carefully at Dutch Barges. I steered her away from these, mainly due to the fact that I cannot weld to save my life and I was not too sure about living on a boat that was restricted by its design to rivers and canals.

We then began what so many other backyard boatbuilders do: a search for a boat to fulfil our dream. And that is not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty of designs to choose from and so many different designers that it is rather like a child sitting in a sweet shop and wondering what sweets to buy.

I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of our search. It is enough to simply say that we spent three years researching on the Internet and in boating magazines. We ended up looking at just a handful of designs from the drawing boards of just two designers. The designs of Paul Fisher of Selway Fisher Design in the UK appealed to us greatly and we bought study plans for several and the full build plans for his Rona Yawl. We even asked Paul to modify that design to suit our requirements – a Rona Mark II, if you like – and he willingly did so (for a modest fee too). We were also considering the designs of a gentleman by the name of John Welsford. I use the term ‘gentleman’ because, in the time we have known John now, he has certainly shown himself to be at least that.

John Welsford is a New Zealander, living on the North Island of the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. I love his small boat designs. They are both practical and, in my view, very easy to build. Perhaps more importantly, they are eminently affordable. But they are even more than that. They are PRETTY. In fact, they are, in my opinion, the prettiest little boats I have ever laid eyes on. It matters not whether you are looking at a little tender or a darned comfortable cruising dinghy. John has a boat design that covers the full spectrum of small boats.

I was particularly interested in his ‘Penguin’. It is about the same size as the Rona Yawl, though there ends any similarity. Jeannette and I vacillated back and forth between Penguin and Rona, Rona and Penguin. It was a close thing, really, but in the end decided to go for the Rona Yawl Mark II, mainly for practical reasons associated with our plan to cruise the French rivers and canals as well as sail the Med and the Baltic. All other plans – and we had accumulated quite a few by then – were shelved. It was to be a Rona Yawl.

Meanwhile, I had struck up quite a friendship with John Welsford. He is a quite extraordinary fell, in my opinion. One the Kiwis would call a 'bonzer bloke' - or maybe that's what Aussies say. Anyway, at last count, he and I had swapped something in the order of 1600 emails, had chatted on Skype quite often and I had telephoned him using landline on several occasions. John was not in the least put out by our decision to build a Rona Yawl rather than a Penguin. In fact, he told us he rather liked the Rona himself.

Then, one day not very long ago, I received an email from John that swung the doors wide open again on our choice of build. He suggested a new design that he said would perhaps fit our dreams better than any other boat. He called it, temporarily, ‘The Boat With No Name’. It is now named ‘Rendezvous’. Still on John’s drawing board, we have had only preliminary design sketches. But John was right. This boat will fit our wants and needs just perfectly. And we are determined to build John’s Rendezvous in the very near future.

This website has changed faces many times. In fact, it has changed face as often as our vacillations have caused us to lean in one direction or another. In the end, we have decided to make the site a sort of UK information source for backyard boatbuilding in general – and to dedicate it to the designs of our very firm Kiwi friend and favourite designer, John Welsford. This does not mean that we don’t acknowledge the many great designs that are out there. On the contrary, we salute the efforts of many boat designers who go to some lengths to supply us backyardies with good, workable, boat designs. Our favourite, by a very long shot, is JohnW. Yours may be whatever appeals most to you.

If you wish to join us as a member, you are always free to post on anyone else’s designs and to blog your builds for the benefit of others. There are simply hundreds of beautiful photos on this site, and as much advice and tips on backyard boatbuilding as it is possible for us to gather together in our spare time.

The site began its life as an interactive community forum like so very many others out there, with a completely open registration system. With experience, we have altered the basic way our site works and now ask people interested in joining us as members to make an application (see further below). That way, we manage to keep out most of the spammers and mischief makers.

This site is not actually selling anything, though it unashamedly recommends the many designs of our good friend John Welsford, a Kiwi designer of quite remarkable talent. John is legendary 'Down Under' and is fast becoming a household name here in the UK. His first book was entitled 'Backyard Boatbuilding' and our website title is derived from that.

We do not seek or receive payment for anything displayed here, neither are we charging anything or trying to separate people from the hard won cash in their wallets. We have set this up simply because we thought it was a good idea to promote the concept of a boatbuilding website that is rather different to all the others. That's it. No profits being made here, no supposition being advanced as fact, no advertisements to be clicked on to make us a few pennies 'per click', no fees to pay, or donations to make, or pleas for financial contributions to the site running costs. This site is simply about helping fellow backyard boatbuilders achieve their goals. Warts and all, this site is just what it appears to be. WYSIWYG!

We have installed vBulletin's Blog software to enable members to blog their builds, upload photographs, and offer their advice and guidance for the benefit of others in the backyard boatbuilding community.

Let's face it - the Web is most useful as a source of information and very little else. However, it is important to recognize that opinion is quite far removed from fact. One should not take on face value any information gleaned from the Internet, whether here or elsewhere. It is always best to check it against known, preferably authoritative, sources.

The interactive side of the website, the forums part, is still here and will continue to be available to registered members. The members' forums are visible to guests but are exclusively for the active use of those who have joined us.

All earlier content remains intact, though some may necessarily be modified. However, automatic registration is now closed forever and it is necessary to apply to join us as a member (using the 'Contact Us' link at the foot of every page - instructions on how to apply are under that link).

Some of our favourite designs are displayed here. We begin on this page with two little dinghies. Our choices are JohnW's Tender Behind and the bigger Sherpa (see the thumbnails below and the images at the top of this post for some fine examples of the standard designs), both smashing little boats inspired, according to John, by the American 'Nutshell' (but significantly improved, in our view). We have plans to build both of these, one to be our tender.




Here are some preliminary photos of John's exciting new design, dubbed Rendezvous. We will blog the whole build and put up photos and video of its construction and eventual launch. Be warned, though, it is likely to take us some time. The photos show no measurements yet but John tells us she is 8.8 metres (28' 10") by 2.9 metres (9' 6") beam and has a draft of just 900mm (under 3 feet).


If you look closely you'll see that this design is a bit like Dr Who's 'Tardis'. More room in that cabin than I've ever seen in a boat of her length and beam. We love this concept and hope to be one of the first to build her. I have posted a lot more detail on Rendezvous, including JW's comments on her, in our John Welsford forum pages.

This website was opened to the public on 1 October 2008. It is an ongoing project with much more to come as our various builds progress, starting with a nice pair of Tender Behinds. Ha ha. Don't you just love that name?

Happy Backyard Boatbuilding

Mike and Jeannette