My Boat Yard

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I was not sure where to put this, but yesterday the Boatbuilding Company in which I work had the local news crew in to do a segment on boat building. In this video clip, you get a chance to see the boat I am currently working on (as a machinist) but at the same time the video is about something more important...and dear...to any woodworkers heart. That is, getting the younger generation involved in woodworking via a new Maine boatbuilding iniative. Anyway, here is the link. Click on the View Vidfeo link on the right hand side of the screen to watch the video.

One thing though, a short advertisement precedes the news footage, but I cannot do anything about that.

http://www.wlbz2.com/news/search/article.aspx?storyid=51913
 
Very cool, Travis. I liked the shot of the guys cutting freehand curves with the circular saw.

They raise an interesting point...how many kids dream of being boat builders when they grow up? Sure wasn't one of the careers I remember the guidance couselors talking about. :huh: Seems like it'd be a great profession.

Oh, and now I've gotta drive up to southern Maine to take advantage of those great furniture deals. :)
 
Building boats is pretty neat, but its really nice to say you build some of the greats boats in the world. This boat company has won two Super Yacht Awards and of course hoping for more.

As a career it is cool to build boats and work with so many craftsman in so many different trades. Laminator's, carpenters, mechanics and machinists all have to really work together to get things accomplished. I still have so much to learn because I am new to the boat building world, but its fun to learn.

Another boat we just got contracted to build is for a man who is pretty high up in the Caterpillar Company. With his boat, the engine rooms will be the main focus. As a Machinist that will let my craft really show off what we can do and what we can fabricate so I am really looking forward to that.
 
that`s cool travis! looks like a place a fellow could keep learning for lotsa years to come....you`re a lucky man! tod
 
They say it takes 10 years for a person to really learn the boat building trade. I have a long ways to go.

One thing I have learned though is that in boatbuilding, organization is everything. Lets say you are building a house. To build it faster, you just add more and more carpenters. With boat building you cannot do that. With only 2access points on the boat, too many people get in the way. So to get things done, you have to be very, very organized and get everything into place that needs to before the deck goes on, and stuff like that.

You also have to be meticulous with housekeeping. If you let a few cords be loose through some of the companionways, a lot of people can get tripped up and hurt. There is so much stuff going into the engine rooms and stuff, that keeping things tidy is a requirement.

As for quality, well their standards are very high. The motto here is...

If it's good enough...it's not!
 
Travis,
Very impressive and it does bring back some very fond memories. I was fortunate enough in my younger years to have part ownership in a 117 Ft yacht. That, by the way is not a boat yard but a ship yard. The differance between a boat and a ship is that you can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat..:D Another deffinition is that a ship can cross the ocean under it's own power.

:thumb:
 
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