Inspired by a father and uncle who relied on “imagination, calculation, patience, determination and a few handy tools”, Paul Elkins has spent more than half a century doodling, tinkering, designing, inventing and creating, among other things, a flat pack house, a foldable boat, a 42-foot-high tree chair, plastic bike cars, wearable shelters, high mileage trikes, wooden speedboats, a $6 shelter, origami boats, micro RVs and bike campers.

He regularly films himself building and testing his latest creations for his youtube channel and sells plans for much of his work on his website ElkinsDIY.

Despite his frustration with our current culture of buying and rebuying rather than fixing and building, he hopes to inspire future generations to enter his world where doing-it-yourself makes the ride, sail, night’s sleep so much richer.