:: Trying to keep track of it all... ::

:: 9.28.2003 ::

Heres where I hang out all day

Heres a pic of our (Marine systems) shop at school.



The two boats on the left are LS (Landing School) 26's. They're beautiful little weekenders built last year by the cruising boat building class. Heres another pic. Nice huh? The school has built 3 a year for about 5 years now. They were actually designed by one of my instructors for this year, which is kind of cool. We'll be winterizing them in the coming weeks and in the spring they'll go to their new owners.
Theres a blue one still for sale if anybody's interested. $70,000 sails it away.

The boat on the right belongs to a guy named Dan. He's the Marine Systems Teaching Assistant for this year and took the class last year. The boat was originally a donation to the Mass Maritime Academy. The academy after holding onto donated boats for a specified amount of time, re-sell them and use the profits to help fund the school. So Dan got a really good deal. Its a 1977 34 foot Pearson. A very overbuilt heavy duty blue water cruiser, but being about 25 years old it does need some work.
As a TA he has access to all the school facilities, and can buy all parts at cost. He also has about a dozen highly skilled instructors, who know everything there is to know about boats at his disposal. He is obliged to work for the school 20hrs a week, but he says thats nothing compared to what he's getting in return. His plan is to completely re-outfit the boat from stem to stern (ha ha). New everything. Right now its just a hull. No systems, no interior, no nothing. Pretty big undertaking. He's going to enlist student help whenever possible. Mostly after school and on weekends. I see this as an invalubale learning experience so I'm going to try and help him as often as I can. Youll have to stay tuned for more pics of that project.

Heres a pic of the inside of our shop.



My workbench is on the far upper right by the large open door. You can just see my red stackable tool chest over there. I share this bench with a guy named Elliot. He's from South Carolina, and just graduated from High School. He's kicking all our asses in the algebra and organic chemistry departments. Not really fair though, he just did all that!
The two boats in the shop are non-runners donated for us to cut up, and experiment on. They're real pieces of crap. Heres one that we cut the laminate on the transom off of just for fun.



These are our two instructors for the year.



Thats Ken on the left. He's a naval architect, and designed the LS 26's I mentioned earlier. He's the one destroying our brains with organic chemistry compounds, and massive algebra equations. He's a great guy though, and seems to know a hell of a lot about boats. I think he looks like Rob Reiner. Heres his bio from the school website:
"Ken graduated from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in 1972. Ken started his career developing boating safety standards at the U.S. Coast Guard R&D Center in Groton, CT and also designed a 30-foot Surf Rescue Boat at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. He has been the chief engineer at Pearson Yachts in Portsmouth, RI; at Regal Boats, in Orlando, FL; and most recently at Sabre Yachts in South Casco, ME. Ken also served as the Technical Editor at Soundings, and as the Design Program Manager at the Landing School (1993-1995). Ken is the designer of the LS-26, and recently reopened his private practice. He returned to the Landing School as an instructor in 2002."

On the right is Rodger. He's a riot. Really funny guy. He's british and talks a mile a minute. He's a genius when is comes to anything mechanical, and can tell you the chemical makeup of just about any product. I think he looks like Ben Kingsley circa "Sexy Beast". Heres his bio:
"Rodger came to the Landing School in October, 1998 to manage and teach the Marine Systems Technician Program after fifteen years employed as the Service Manager of the Port Harbor Marine, one of the largest marine service facilities north of Boston. In prior years, Rodger served as a Marine Engineer with the British Army, the Cunard Steamship Company, and Mon River Towing of Ohio."

They make quite a team and are very entertaining. I think I'm going to learn a hell of a lot this year. That is if my brain doesnt seize up first. Haven't had the gears whirring quite this fast in a while. Still gotta get some of the rust off, and get the cobwebs out.

So that should get you up to speed. I'll post more pictures of whats going on at school as the year goes on. Should get real interesting when we have to start applying what we learned to a functional boat that somebody actully expects to sail next summer.

:: Zachary 8:37:00 AM [+] ::
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