On 14 June, the launch of Norfolk boatbuilder Abbey Molyneux’s new and expanded yard brought together more than 60 professionals from across the boatbuilding and heritage marine sectors.

Yard owners, boatbuilders, craftsmen, educators, and heritage boating enthusiasts alike came from all across the UK to celebrate traditional boatbuilding.

The gathering was also an occasion to discuss issues facing the sector, including the need to replenish its workforce.

Display for the International Boatbuilding College at Maritime Day event, Woodbridge, Suffolk 2010. Photo: Geogphotos / Alamy.

Over the last years, the closure of the International Boatbuilding Training College in Portsmouth (March 2023) and the recent addition of boatbuilding and craft skills such as rigging to the endangered skills list have highlighted the urgent need for a skill development plan for future generations of boatbuilders.

Will Reed, director of the one of the few remaining boat colleges in England, the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy, explains, “The focus is on providing the best possible education to upcoming boatbuilders and feeding the industry. This only works if we have a thriving workforce ready to take our newly qualified boatbuilders on the next leg of their journey.”

Boathouse 4 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is home to the UK’s largest collection of small naval craft as well as the International Boatbuilding Training College. Photo: Alamy.

Jim Dines, founder of the Heritage Marine Foundation, explains that the difficulty lies not only in getting national bodies and members of the public to recognise the decline of these endangered skills, but in motivating younger audiences to undertake a career in boat craft.

“We need to make the UK aware that there is a shortage of young people entering the industry and to bring it to the attention of young people that there is a viable career path in the industry,” he says.

The bright future of traditional boatbuilding

The traditional boatbuilding community has already taken several steps to address the skills crisis and invest in boatbuilding training and professional development.

New bursaries and courses launched by the Boat Building Academy; crowdfunding campaigns from Dorset boat building, community surveys from British Boat Builders; exciting partnerships between the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis and the National Maritime Museum in Cornwall; and workshops and mentorship opportunities offered through organisations like Women in Boatbuilding are all breathing new life into the sector.

Students of the BBA launch their boats at the end of the 40-week course. Photo: Boat Building Academy.

Part of ensuring the future of marine heritage craft, the discussions highlighted, is changing the perception of who can practice them.

Recent efforts from individuals like Abbey Molyneux, also known as Abbey Boatbuilder, and organisations like Women in Boatbuilding to invite more women into the trade seem to be paying off.

The first week of July, the Boat Building Academy’s most gender diverse course to date launched its newly-made boats in Lyme Regis. The course had its largest ever female cohort, with seven out of fifteen students being women.

Previously, there had never been more than two.

Photo: Boat Building Academy.

Belinda Joslin, founder of Women in Boatbuilding, worked closely with the BBA to encourage women to enrol in the course, but hopes the industry will someday move past the need for this kind of deliberate intervention.

“Watching the launch day of this student cohort reinforced the central pillar of Women in Boat Building,” she says. “We all just want to be ‘boat builders’ working in an environment where gender is irrelevant […] The more diversity becomes the norm, the less we need to talk about it.”

One BBA student, Hannah Lovett, is now set to begin a trial in Molyneux’s new boatyard in Norfolk.

WIBB plans to offer a mentoring programme. Photo: Women in Boatbuilding.

Molyneux plans to restore the historic vessel Guide of Dunkirk with a mixed gender team. She hopes the occasion will give women and youth the opportunity to gain practical boatbuilding experience and discover the richness of heritage craft.

“We are all working together to keep these skills alive and to make sure our beautiful industry prospers into the future,” she said after the June gathering. “We are determined to bring our industry to a wider audience, and with all the support shown after Saturday’s event, we will certainly be making waves in the coming years. Watch this space.”

Want to get into traditional boatbuilding?

Enrolment is now open for the Boat Building Academy’s next 40-week course starting on September 1, 2025. For more details visit: www.boatbuildingacademy.co.uk.

The British Boat Building Academy will attend the Thames Traditional Boat Festival from 18-20 July and Southampton Boat Show from 19-28 September, where they will present at the first ever Wooden Boat Stage along with Women In Boat Building and the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association.

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