HOW TO BUILD A BOAT IN YEAR 12
At Nudgee College our goal is for students to leave school with the knowledge and skills essential to participate in, and contribute to, the world they live in. One way we achieve this is through providing one of the largest subject offerings for boys in Queensland.
The College’s Vocational Education Training (VET) Program is a popular pathway for students and allows education to be delivered in a practical manner, developing skills and knowledge in construction and engineering.
In 2017, Year 12 boarder Dylan Gracie built a boat. Dylan tells his story below.
I have been very fortunate and privileged to be given the opportunity, not to mention the huge challenge, of building a 6.3-metre aluminium boat in my Engineering class.
At the beginning of Term 4 2016, a flat pack arrived containing all materials needed and the plans to build the boat. With great hype and anticipation, my boat-building experience began.
Once all the pieces needed to assemble the boat were marked off and checked from the pack, the task of cutting out the boat pieces began.
I was very grateful to my fellow Nudgee College Engineering brothers, as they helped with cutting out the pieces from the template using a jigsaw. This alone took about 10 hours to complete.
The building of the boat started with the assembly of the hull and the frame. The boat slowly started to take shape after many hours of welding and a lot of reading and interpreting the boat’s plans. Once the floatation foam was installed in the floor and sides of the boat for safety, the boat’s interior, including the centre console, canopy, storage compartments, side pockets, battery boxes, bait board and live-bait tank, had to be constructed and welded into place. Things moved along quickly after these were completed and I could see light at the end of the tunnel.
The next stage of my boat project was fitting it out. Here I needed to make decisions on ordering and purchasing the motor, trailer, various pumps, steering, gauges, GPS and sounder, just to name a few items.
The final stage will be water testing the boat and motor, as well as the registration process. The completed boat, which is built to seat six people comfortably, will feature a custom-made centre console with a canopy, a 195-litre fuel tank, a large kill tank for fish, storage on both sides of the boat and in the hull, and up to a 225-horsepower motor.
At times, the project was challenging but, without a doubt, very rewarding. I would like to acknowledge all the extremely valuable help I received from College staff, along with local boat builder Mr Chris Gallagher and my dad Mr Robert Gracie. They assisted with assembling the boat and checking I was on the right track with this mammoth task, and as a result, I now have a truly beautiful vessel.
I will forever be grateful to have been given the opportunity to build my own fishing boat while attending St Joseph’s Nudgee College. It was a big goal for me, and I would like to thank everyone who helped me to achieve this.