CE-craft was developed by Jonathan Leask who trained as a small craft designer at the now Southampton Solent University.
After graduating in 1979, Jonathan worked at various boat building and repair yards and qualified as a Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) examiner in 1999. This was followed by a period at CEproof where he worked as an Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) inspector on all types of craft but with the emphasis on the Inland Waterways sector.
In 2005 Jonathan started his own company, Small Craft Consultancy and worked as RCD inspector, surveyor and BSS examiner for inland waterways craft. In later years he was able to concentrate solely on RCD and RCR inspection work.
Having used CEproof’s RCD compliance software and seeing how vital it was to preparing accurate RCD documentation, Jonathan began to develop, for his own use, an Excel-based software for assessing inland waterways craft only. This led to the creation of CE-craft, a cost-effective and efficient tool for boat builders to ensure that their products are fully compliant.
In 2024 Jonathan stopped his work as an RCD and RCR inspector to concentrate on developing CE-craft which became accessible on a database in 2025.