Hi Andrew.
I am also from the UK (Yorkshire), with a few friends in Canterbury.
The crowd funding idea is certainly a pretty new concept and after explaining my own project I often have to explain again the idea that if we fall short of our funding target no one will be charged and the project is not funded.
Recently there has been a little about bands starting kickstarter projects on 6 music but aside from this have have not really seen much in the way of uk hype.
My hope is that people will soon realise the awesomeness of crowd funding and start getting on board with backing great projects
Your project looks really good, I hope you can get the boat seaworthy.
I'm also looking forward to getting a badge!