A father and son spent six years building their own boat in their back garden - then had to hire a crane to lift it out to the sea.

Roofing contractor John Couzens, 53, from Broadstairs, decided to create the 38ft long cruiser from scratch to give his son Dan, 26, a project to focus on.

The pair started by building a wooden boathouse specially for the project at the bottom of the garden, 45ft long and 25ft tall.

They worked day and night to construct the customised Evolution 38i on a fibreglass hull
and spent £175,000 since starting in 2008.

They completed the project yesterday - but then faced a major operation to get it out of the garden.

John greased some scaffolding poles to create a makeshift railway track to lower the boat - named 'Out of the Blue' - on to.

Three winches were then used to pull it up the garden where a crane then lifted it over the family's two-storey home.

John and Dan held their breath as their pride and joy took to the air but the delicate operation was safely hoisted onto the back of a waiting low-loader lorry.

They had to get permission to close the road temporarily to carry out the complicated process.

The yacht was then driven the four miles to a marina in Ramsgate where it was finally put in the water.

John, 53, says the moving operation cost him around £10,000 - taking the overall cost of the project to around £160,000.

A standard Evolution 38i costs around £120,000 new but he says his customised version has already been valued at £160,000 because it has many extras.

He said: "I was expecting it to be a bit tricky but at one point we didn't think we would get there.

"While the boat was being lifted the vehicle was going backwards and forwards to get it out.

"It ended up bursting one of my neighbour's water mains, which wasn't great but didn't cause too many problems.

"And while going back and forth again the back tyre of the vehicle holding up the crane exploded in the road, we had to wait about two hours to get it replaced.

"So it took a while to get the thing out, but we saw it go over it was an absolutely amazing feeling.

"Everyone from work was there helping and we had about 40 friends and family watching. We must have drunk 90 cups of tea."

The whole family were involved in the construction including John's wife Alison, 49, and Dan's twin brother George.

But John said he decided to finance the project to help his son, who also works for his roofing company, and give him "an extra push".

He added: "I did it for Dan really. He wanted something to build and I thought it would really do him good to have something to focus on.

"I really wanted to push him, everybody needs pushing otherwise you don't get everything you possibly can from life.

"I think Dan is one of those people that needed a bit of an extra push and he was amazing. He treated it like a 9 to 5 job, he would be out there everyday.

"It was a rite of passage for him really that saw him grow for a boy into a young man.

"It was Dan who did the majority of the work and I helped out and helped him design it, and of course, I financed it.

"The whole family has been involved, even my poor wife has had to put up with it."

The father and son still have final finishing touches to make on the boat, but they plan to have it ready to sail by next spring.