This is one of several kayaks in the Museum’s collection from the drawing board of that prolific designer of small boats Percy Blandford.
Blandford’s passion was to design ‘small boats for everyman’ that could be constructed at home with a minimum of tools and expertise. In the years following the Second World War there was a widespread desire to take to the water for leisure: Blandford’s designs found a ready audience and many thousands of sets of plans were sold for a variety of self-build small wooden craft ranging from canoes to sailing cruisers.
This example of a PBK (Percy Blandford Kayak), was described in the sales literature of kit manufacturers Small Craft, as ‘a primarily roomy single, but carries a companion with little kit’. Designed for simple construction in wood with a canvas cover, it was also intended to appeal to those without much boating experience and was described as ‘strong and seaworthy, stable and easily handled’, with the boast that one had made a crossing of the English Channel.
Dimensions
Length 4.31m
Beam 0.4m
