Chris Perkins builds Michael Storer’s Raid

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Chris Perkins’ build of Michael Storer’s RAID looking almost
supernaturally neat and tidy. I must ask him how he does it!

What happens when a prize-winning amateur builder of glued lapstrake boats like Chris Perkins builds a boat with chine logs and frames with cleats?

A flawlessly tidy looking job, that’s what! Notice how he’s managed to glass the bottom with only one tiny run…

See more photos of his build of Michael Storer’s RAID at his weblog Strathkan Chris’s Little World. He’s building it for his friend Brian Pearson, who I think is a very lucky chap indeed. I think Michael has been pretty lucky here too, by the way: every designer prays the first build to their latest new design will be built by someone like Chris!

Water Craft magazine preview – and subscribe through PayPal now!

Water Craft is a great little magazine and, after talking with folks who edit it, I’ve decided to publish previews’s of each issue. Hopefully it will remind people to nip down to their newsagents – or, better still, to buy a subscription for themselves or a loved one.

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The March/April issue of Water Craft. As usual, click on the thumbnail for a bigger photo

The bi-monthly Water Craft is a great magazine and, after talking with folks who edit it, I’ve decided to publish previews of each issue. Hopefully they will remind people to nip down to their newsagents – or, better still, to buy a subscription for themselves or a loved one.

Editor Pete Greenfield reports that ‘small is beautiful’ has emerged as the dominant theme of Water Craft number 74, which is due out on the 26th February.

It’ll include a reprint of an article by Moray MacPhail first published 14 years ago, which now seems more relevant than ever, particularly in the light of the evidence of the WBTA Boat Buying Survey also included in the issue.

Also,there’s a piece from canoe builder John Floutier describing a sailing canoe cruise in company in the Western Isles. Also Kathy Mansfield impressed by the 14ft GRP Devon Yawl, and Jo Moran down in Cornwall sails the similar-sized and equally gutsy GRP Bristol Jolly Boat.

Smallest of them all in this issue, however, is Chris Perkins’ latest home boatbuilding project, the 10ft Stickleback canoe designed by Iain Oughtred.

Look out also for Dick Phillips sailing Secret, a 20ft Edwardian-style ‘gentleman’s cruising yacht’ you can build from a pre-cut plywood kit, and the beautiful 20ft Laurent Giles Sandpiper named Surprise, built by Tom Naismith in his garage.

The Grand Designs series features Nigel Irens’ 15-knot electric speedboat, which made her debut at the London Boat Show and Australian designer Michael Storer introduces his Radical Raid Boat, which will make her debut on the Water Craft stand at the Beale Park Thames Boat Show.

Subscribe to Water Craft now using the button below – with the pound so cheap now, this must be a real bargain for many of our international readers!


Water Craft subscriptions




Check this website to find a newsagent in the UK: http://availability.mmcltd.co.uk

Chris Perkins Oughtred Stickleback canoe, Storer Raid cruising dinghy and weblog

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Chris Perkin’s Stangarra, built to Iain
Oughtred’s Stickleback drawings

Chris Perkins has kindly sent me this collection of photos of his beautifully-made Stangarra canoe built to Iain Oughtred’s Stickleback plans. The quality of Chris’s boatbuilding work is widely recognised, and some readers may remember that he won the 2007 Watercraft magazine competition.

Competitive types may be secretly pleased to hear that Chris, who is one of nature’s gentlemen, has forsworn entering any further boatbuilding competitions. But some even more important news is that his Stickleback project is to feature in the next two issues of Watercraft magazine, which will be well worth looking out for on the news stands.

Chris’s message was also a reminder to me that I’ve been meaning to link to Chris’s weblog about his building projects, StrathkanChris’s Little World. The list of boats that have come out of his green shed is becoming more and more impressive. The latest project featured on his weblog is an example of Michael Storer’s solo open cruising boat, the Raid 41 – see the photo pasted below.

See the Iain Oughtred plans catalogue here.

Also, kits to build some of Oughtred’s designs are available here and in the USA from Jordan Boats.