Hamilton Reef
08-17-2007, 10:54 AM
Boat building school ready to set sail
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/118735412042260.xml&coll=6
08/17/07 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor hmeyerson@grpress.com
CEDARVILLE -- On the outskirts of this northern Lake Huron town, located in a region known for its perch fishing, island cottages and classic boat culture, Dave Lesh and handful of dedicated others are hard at work on an idea they hope will float.
They are launching the Great Lakes Boat Building School, a nine month professional boat building program that may lead students to an community college associate's degree. During the summer it will also offer a mix of short workshops for the recreational boat builder.
"If we get six to eight full-time students this first year, we will be extremely lucky," said Lesh, the executive director for the GLBBS which opens its doors next week having just completed construction of its 12,000 square foot facility at a cost of $925,000.
The building has a milling room, construction bays, classrooms, a clean room for finish work and a sail-making loft
All of the money was raised from local contributors who saw the opportunity to do something good for an area known for its maritime heritage.
"It seemed a natural fit in Cedarville, given its history of Mackinac boats being built and fishing boats," Lesh said.
Cedarville is also home for the Les Cheneaux Maritime Museum, known for vintage boat display and maritime artifacts. It's sister village, the town of Hessel just down the road, is home to E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works the first Chris-craft dealer in the U.S.
Hessel also hosts the largest antique and classic boat show in the Midwest. Its 30th annual show was held last weekend.
"We held an open house in conjunction with the show and had 1,000 people come through the building. I thought we'd just get maybe 100," Lesh said.
The school kicks off its summer workshop program August 20. Building construction caused it to be delayed until now. The school's full-time professional program begins September 24.
That, Lesh said, is geared for young boat building students who hope to make boat building a profession and for those who are looking for a career change later in life.
"The people who have contacted us so far are people who want to learn this as a career," said Lesh, "rather than people like me who want to learn to build a boat in their garage."
To that end, the four semester program begins with basics like woodworking and tool handling. But students quickly progress to more complicated matters and advanced skills interior joinery, lofting (sketching out the boat lines for construction), boat repair and construction restoration and contemporary building techniques using composite materials.
Students start by building smaller boats and progress to larger, 25 or 28 foot boats. The school's program is being developed by Pat Mahon, a boat builder from the Pacific Northwest who taught for 10 years at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Townsend Washington. Mahon relocated to Cedarville, where is will be the school's program director.
It's head instructor is David Janz, according to Lesh, is a skilled wooden boat builder who constructed the Mackinac boat on display in the Michigan Maritime Museum.
"There is a need for a program like this," said Steve Van Dam, president of Van Dam Custom Boats in Boyne City. "We have a strong maritime heritage here and nobody has made a professional training program here in the Midwest."
Van Dam is one of the school's technical advisors. His company and the exclusive wooden boats it builds, has garnered national acclaim in the yachting press. He employs a dozen people, including his wife, but has nine who build boats including two apprentices.
His pool of applicants for jobs regularly include graduates from the Landing School in Arundel Maine. It is a highly technical school for boat builders and designers and one of several wooden boat building programs around the country, including the well-known Northwest School at Port Townsend and The Wooden Boat School in Brooklin Maine.
"I think the timing is good and its a good thing for Cedarville to have that school there," said Van Dam.
"Just about every Landing School student we have here have all come from the Midwest. They go out there and have a desire to come back to the midwest."
Van Dam said the Landing School has a job fair every year. They graduate 50 students but have several hundred prospective employers show up looking for employees.
Lesh said his program will handle 40 full-time students. Discussions are underway with North Central Michigan College in Petosky about offering an accredited associates degree in boat building.
Lesh is optimistic about the possibly of students enrolling in that program as early as January 2008.
"I know we would be interested in people (students) like this," said James R Watson, the technical advisor for Gougeon Brothers Inc., in Bay City. The company created West System Epoxy, a boat building adhesive that has become ubiquitous in boat building industry. The company began 35 years ago and Watson was its first employee.
He, too, was invited to be a technical advisor to the school, which is seeking input from well-established professional firms from around the country in the boat building industry
"I will be giving a seminar on epoxy next month to 1500 entry-level people, most of which are boat builders, down in North Carolina, he said.
"I talk to people all day long about building boats and solving problems. What they are doing (in Cedarville) fits right in. We have a hard time finding people with those qualifications."
Tuition at the GLBBS runs between $9,500 and $10,500. Scholarships are available. The area's resorts and hotels have agreed to offer reasonable housing rates for students in the program.
http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/grpress/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/118735412042260.xml&coll=6
08/17/07 By Howard Meyerson Press Outdoors Editor hmeyerson@grpress.com
CEDARVILLE -- On the outskirts of this northern Lake Huron town, located in a region known for its perch fishing, island cottages and classic boat culture, Dave Lesh and handful of dedicated others are hard at work on an idea they hope will float.
They are launching the Great Lakes Boat Building School, a nine month professional boat building program that may lead students to an community college associate's degree. During the summer it will also offer a mix of short workshops for the recreational boat builder.
"If we get six to eight full-time students this first year, we will be extremely lucky," said Lesh, the executive director for the GLBBS which opens its doors next week having just completed construction of its 12,000 square foot facility at a cost of $925,000.
The building has a milling room, construction bays, classrooms, a clean room for finish work and a sail-making loft
All of the money was raised from local contributors who saw the opportunity to do something good for an area known for its maritime heritage.
"It seemed a natural fit in Cedarville, given its history of Mackinac boats being built and fishing boats," Lesh said.
Cedarville is also home for the Les Cheneaux Maritime Museum, known for vintage boat display and maritime artifacts. It's sister village, the town of Hessel just down the road, is home to E.J. Mertaugh Boat Works the first Chris-craft dealer in the U.S.
Hessel also hosts the largest antique and classic boat show in the Midwest. Its 30th annual show was held last weekend.
"We held an open house in conjunction with the show and had 1,000 people come through the building. I thought we'd just get maybe 100," Lesh said.
The school kicks off its summer workshop program August 20. Building construction caused it to be delayed until now. The school's full-time professional program begins September 24.
That, Lesh said, is geared for young boat building students who hope to make boat building a profession and for those who are looking for a career change later in life.
"The people who have contacted us so far are people who want to learn this as a career," said Lesh, "rather than people like me who want to learn to build a boat in their garage."
To that end, the four semester program begins with basics like woodworking and tool handling. But students quickly progress to more complicated matters and advanced skills interior joinery, lofting (sketching out the boat lines for construction), boat repair and construction restoration and contemporary building techniques using composite materials.
Students start by building smaller boats and progress to larger, 25 or 28 foot boats. The school's program is being developed by Pat Mahon, a boat builder from the Pacific Northwest who taught for 10 years at the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Townsend Washington. Mahon relocated to Cedarville, where is will be the school's program director.
It's head instructor is David Janz, according to Lesh, is a skilled wooden boat builder who constructed the Mackinac boat on display in the Michigan Maritime Museum.
"There is a need for a program like this," said Steve Van Dam, president of Van Dam Custom Boats in Boyne City. "We have a strong maritime heritage here and nobody has made a professional training program here in the Midwest."
Van Dam is one of the school's technical advisors. His company and the exclusive wooden boats it builds, has garnered national acclaim in the yachting press. He employs a dozen people, including his wife, but has nine who build boats including two apprentices.
His pool of applicants for jobs regularly include graduates from the Landing School in Arundel Maine. It is a highly technical school for boat builders and designers and one of several wooden boat building programs around the country, including the well-known Northwest School at Port Townsend and The Wooden Boat School in Brooklin Maine.
"I think the timing is good and its a good thing for Cedarville to have that school there," said Van Dam.
"Just about every Landing School student we have here have all come from the Midwest. They go out there and have a desire to come back to the midwest."
Van Dam said the Landing School has a job fair every year. They graduate 50 students but have several hundred prospective employers show up looking for employees.
Lesh said his program will handle 40 full-time students. Discussions are underway with North Central Michigan College in Petosky about offering an accredited associates degree in boat building.
Lesh is optimistic about the possibly of students enrolling in that program as early as January 2008.
"I know we would be interested in people (students) like this," said James R Watson, the technical advisor for Gougeon Brothers Inc., in Bay City. The company created West System Epoxy, a boat building adhesive that has become ubiquitous in boat building industry. The company began 35 years ago and Watson was its first employee.
He, too, was invited to be a technical advisor to the school, which is seeking input from well-established professional firms from around the country in the boat building industry
"I will be giving a seminar on epoxy next month to 1500 entry-level people, most of which are boat builders, down in North Carolina, he said.
"I talk to people all day long about building boats and solving problems. What they are doing (in Cedarville) fits right in. We have a hard time finding people with those qualifications."
Tuition at the GLBBS runs between $9,500 and $10,500. Scholarships are available. The area's resorts and hotels have agreed to offer reasonable housing rates for students in the program.