Wooden Drascombes
John Watkinson
Mackerel Boat
In 1962/3 there was a shortage of work at Kelly and Hall, so as a way of keeping his craftsmen busy, John Watkinson produced another unique design and speculatively built 3 boats that he named "The Mackerel Boat", a 16ft open boat with clench nailed and glued marine ply lapstrake construction. She had twin small wooden bilge keels, an inboard air cooled, 3 horse power Watermota Sea Urchin 4 stroke LPG/Petrol engine, a 46 sq ft standing lugsail on an unstayed mast and a varnished hull.
The Mackerel Boat is the obvious fore runner to the Drascombe line and probably the seed that sowed the idea for the Drascombe Lugger, in fact one of the Mackerel Boats was later modified to take an extra plank and was half decked to resemble a mini Drascombe Lugger with a quite remarkable likeness.
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