John Welsford - Small Craft Designer and Author

A 51 year old school dropout, John Welsford grew up on his parents farm building canoes from roofing iron and scrap timber. Learning the basic principles of boat designing this manner was quite effective - he could swim pretty well and a mistake made in design or construction meant only a dunking in the water and the opportunity to recycle the materials into another small boat.

        Today, he is the author of 'The New Zealand Backyard Boatbuilder', sold worldwide, is a well known designer of small boats for the home boatbuilder, and is an active builder and sailor of his own products.

Telling others of his adventures, and writing for club newsletters lead to him writing professionally, and in addition to having two books in print, he also contributes to a number of boating magazines. So today - 19 years after creating his first designs - he is a successful designer of high tech racing yachts, sports rowing boats and long range ocean going launches - and of course the small boats is most well-known for - as well as appearing regularly in magazines worldwide.

Now living in Rotorua near the middle of New Zealand's North Island John is an hour away from salt water but has 21 lakes within easy range so still has many opportunities to use the small boats that are his first love.

With his hobby starting to take over his life - and his 'day job' suffering as a result - and encouraged by his wife Jan, John decided to design boats full-time last winter.

He and his two helpers now send plans all over the world and advise and assist home boat builders. John works many long hours out in his workshop building boats (mostly in plywood - a material ideal for the amateur builder) trying out new products, and discovering the solutions that make his plans practical for the unskilled home builders who are the bulk of his clients.

With more time at the drawing board, and his two associates doing the administration and some of the drafting, 'John Welsford's Small Craft Design' is growing fast, and his successful international design enterprise would be quite a surprise to those teachers who saw him as such a headache when he was a 14 year old!

To contact him, please click here: John Welsford

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