The Adventure Begins

Hello internet, my name is Ben Hunt.  I'm a freshman at the Webb Institute and I'm working this winter for a company which the school calls Brewers Marine.  Really, I'm working for Webb's two offshoring sailing coaches, Leo and Vlad, in a tent in the Brewer Yacht Yard.  I'm attempting to help Leo and Vlad modify Peacemaker, a Kerr 11.5, for Webb to sail in the spring.

Peacemaker before any modifications 

Source: Ker Designs

My Work

My first couple days on the job were full of information overload.  I learned all about peel ply, bleeders, breathers, baby blankets, vacuum bags and more that Leo and Vlad use to make the composite parts for Peacemaker.  You can see some peel ply in the image below, it's the paper looking stuff.  The peel ply gives the material a finished that allows you to bond other parts to it without having to sand the surface first.

The peel ply is covering the tabbing we added to the stern bulkhead.  We added the tabbing to this bulkhead because the original builder decided not to.  This left the bulkhead poorly attached to the rest of the boat.

Bulkhead before the tabbing is added

I also got to do a lot of foam removal from the hatch Leo and Vlad replaced.  The old hatch was poorly made and falling apart.

Old Hatch

New Hatch

Before

Middle

After

It is fun to get to crawl around a sailboat all day, but it can be claustrophobic at times.

We also started working on the modifications to the keel.

New part of the keel in a vacuum bag

Finally, I got to cut the old stanchion mounts off the inside of the boat to save weight.

Life alone at Webb has been an adventure.  The building makes a lot weird sounds when it empty.  Luckily I'm learning the sources of most of them.  For example, when you hear a door slam right outside your room it is the fire escape door that does not latch, not an intruder.  I also got the pleasure of performing a one man jump start of my car with a Webb van (I would have got a picture but my phone was too cold to turn on) after I left a light on overnight.

There is not toaster in the student kitchen, so I have been perfecting the art of toasting bread on a frying pan.