In this episode Paul discusses discovering his love of wooden boats at a very early age, building one at 18 and why you need to be very careful when you put boats in piantings.

PAUL ATKINS

Paul Atkins runs a third generation family business with his wife Kate. The business, Atkins Lab, prints, frames and make albums for photographers.

Since childhood, Paul has been bewitched by boats, particularly traditional wooden ones. Paul thinks it began with Scuffy The Tug Boat, a kids book in the Golden Book series.

While firmly photographers, Paul’s dad John had built a speed boat when he was 16 which made the idea of owning such a beautiful thing as a boat a reasonable idea.

This idea led to Paul’s first boat build thanks to a chance meeting with Robert Ayliffe who had guided many first time builders into the craft.

Robert led Paul to designer Iain Oughtred and Bruce Kirby, two living masters who have bridged traditional boat design with modern building methods.