Boat designer whose St Ayles skiff, based on indigenous Scottish craft and intended for coastal rowing, proved hugely popular
During the winter of 1981-82, in a cold draughty shed in Cookham Dean on the River Thames in Berkshire, Iain Oughtred, who has died aged 84, built a boat that would change the world of small boat building. The craft was just 12ft long and based on a traditional Whitehall design built in the thousands in the US. But, whereas the American boats were made in solid timber held together with screws and rivets, Iain chose to build his in plywood and epoxy – the materials of the future, as he saw it. Up until then, boat designs for amateur construction, such as the popular Mirror dinghy, tended to be intrinsically functional (read ugly); Iain proved they could be beautiful too.
His Acorn skiff was picked up by the US magazine WoodenBoat, which described it as “a sweet-lined, slippery little jewel”, and added the drawings to its list of stock plans available to buy. It was the income from this design, as well as dozens more added to his list over the years, that allowed Iain to pursue his chosen career as a boat designer. Over the next 40 years, he would draw more than 100 designs – for boats ranging from 6ft to 30ft long – which would be built around the world by amateurs and professionals alike. Although not always the easiest to build, his designs were considered the pinnacle of the type and endowed him with almost cult status in the wooden boat community.