Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on September 12, 2009 at 17:12:12 user ACB.
I recently acquired a copy of "Practical Boat Building for Amateurs" by Adrian Neison, CE, revised edition by Dixon Kemp, AINA (whom I have heard of!) published by L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, WC. No date of publication but to judge by the scribbles on the flyleaf and the advertisements at the back, 1886.
It contains complete and precise instructions for building a punt very much like the description of the "Dreadnought", as a first project: