10-day Boat Building Course

Product Description

In this 10-day class you will build your own wooden boat from one of our stitch-and-glue boat kits. The course runs from Monday to Friday for two weeks and your boat will be ready to take home on the Saturday of the second week.

Book your place at least thirty days before the start date to make sure you don't miss out.

This ten-day course is suitable for building boats that can't be done in one of our five-day courses, or for builders who want to take a little more time over the build (the five day course requires you to maintain a fast pace throughout the week). You could also use the ten-day course to get your boat closer to completion, so that you have less homework at the end. If you're unsure which course to take, please call us to discuss it.

Expert tuition will be provided by our experienced instructors at our fully-equipped boatbuilding workshop in the Lake District.

In addition to the student tuition which you can purchase from this page, you will need to buy the boat kit that you want to build (see below for a list of boats compatible with this ten-day course). You are also welcome to bring an assistant to help work on your boat; there is a reduced tuition fee for additional students.

All tools and consumables are provided, as well as all required safety equipment. We will supply disposable dust masks, but we recommend bringing a respirator (and filters) if you have one. You might also prefer to bring your own ear defenders, though our classroom has enough to go around. We will also provide safety glasses, protective gloves and disposable coveralls.

You can bring some of your own tools if you prefer, such as a block plane, cordless drill and a small hand saw, but all of these are provided in our classroom.

The class starts at 8am each day and finishes between 5 and 6 in the evening, with an hour off for lunch. Some days might run longer, particularly the Tuesday (hull assembly day).

If you lack the space and tools (or motivation) to complete your boat at home, you can also hire a place in our workshop for the week after the course. We recommend that you get in touch with us before booking, to check availability and discuss what you hope to achieve in the time.

If you have any more questions about our courses, please see our Courses FAQ or contact us.

Choosing your boat

You must purchase your boat kit at the same time as you pay for the tuition, so that we have time to manufacture it before the start of the course. At the checkout, please choose the option to collect your order from our premises and it will be waiting for you on the first day of the course (we'll post you the construction manual in advance, so you can arrive prepared to make the most of the course).

Not all of our boat kits can be built in a ten-day course, therefore we can only accept the following boats on this course:

• Canoes, kayaks and SUPs:
  • Canadian canoe
  • Chesapeake 14, 16LT, 16, 17LT, 17 or 18
  • Chesapeake Double or Chesapeake Triple
  • Ganymede
  • Io
  • Kaholo SUP 12 or 14
  • Matunuck
  • Mill Creek 13
  • Mill Creek 16.5
  • Mill Creek 16.5 Hybrid *
  • Night Heron SG
  • Night Heron Hybrid *
  • Pax
  • Petrel SG
  • Petrel Play SG
  • Sea Island Sport
  • Sailing Outriggers – floats, beams and mast, but not the main hull
  • Sassafras 12
  • Sassafras 16
  • Shearwater 14, 16 or 17
  • Shearwater Hybrid 14, 16 or 17 *
  • Shearwater Sport
  • Shearwater Sport Hybrid *
  • Shearwater Sport Sectional
  • Shearwater Double
  • Sport Tandem
  • Wood Duckling
  • Wood Duck 10, 12 or 14
  • Wood Duck Hybrid 10, 12 or 14 *
  • Wood Duck Double
• Rowing and sailing** boats:
  • Chester Yawl
  • Cocktail Class Racer
  • Dinky Dory
  • Eastport Pram
  • Nesting Eastport Pram
  • Eastport Ultralight Dinghy
  • Elterwater Pram
  • Expedition Wherry
  • Fyne Four
  • Kombi Sailing Canoe
  • Little Laker
  • Northeaster Dory
  • Oxford Shell
  • Oz Goose
  • PassageMaker
  • PassageMaker Take-Apart
  • Skerry
  • Skerry Raid
  • Skiff
  • Spindrift Dinghy
  • Stem Dinghy
  • Team Dory
  • Tenderly Dinghy
  • Viola Sailing Canoe
  • Wherry
  • Tandem Wherry
  • Cradle Boat

* The listed hybrid (wood-strip decked) boats may be built on the course as long as the deck design is kept fairly simple, with mostly parallel strips. More ornate designs can add considerably to the build time, so can't be built on the course. If you are unsure, please get in touch to discuss the sort of thing you have in mind and we'll see what can be done.

** For the sailing boats, there probably won't be time in the ten-day course to complete the spars, rudders or other sailing parts, but these can be added to the completed hull afterwards.