Building a boat in the back yard - in pictures

Timber from the 1987 storms were used for the bulkheads. “It was available at low prices, and might have been wasted if it wasn’t used,” says Tolhurst
Photograph: Iain Tolhurst/Tamara Schipou

“In order to finance the boat I had to work outside the farm. I took on building jobs that often involved lead, which I collected over 20 years. I only had to buy the final tonne. To buy all of it would have cost around £5,000”
Photograph: Iain Tolhurst/Tamara Schipou

“It first began to look like a boat when the frame was upside down. In some ways I liked it more then than I do now. You could see its skeleton and the lines beginning to emerge, which was so seductive. I could imagine the finished boat at that point, and thought, ‘Oh, I’ll be done in three or four years’”
Photograph: Iain Tolhurst/Tamara Schipou

Tolhurst in the Naida’s cabin
Photograph: Iain Tolhurst/Tamara Schipou

The beautiful cockpit
Photograph: Iain Tolhurst/Tamara Schipou

The boat propped up and with masts raised on the farm
Photograph: Warren Jackson

The Naida is slung out of the yard to be transported down to the water for its launch Photograph: Warren Jackson

“Friends would come to see the boat as much as us. Then suddenly it wasn’t there, and we were left with this empty space” Photograph: Warren Jackson

“When clearing up after the launch I found the champagne cork and thought, ‘I’ll give this to my daughter as a memento’” Photograph: Warren Jackson

“The night before the launch I hardly slept. The initial plan was to keep it for close family until I realised how much the boat belonged to the local community. On the day there was a real sense of togetherness – and a lot of moist eyes” Photograph: Warren Jackson

“I felt a sense of relief when Naida made it into the water. I had a real sense of achievement. Afterwards I almost felt a kind of post-natal depression kicking-in” Photograph: Warren Jackson

“The sailing gear and the rigging was a quarter of the overall cost. It’s specialist work – the sails cost twice as much as the engine” Photograph: Tamara Schipou