Grant Oliver of Charlevoix stands at one end of a 19-foot cutter while his classmates inspect the other. Mr. Oliver advises that boat building requires a great deal of patience and attention to detail. As the sun rises in Cedarville, the whine of a jigsaw slices the silence, signaling that approximately an hour of daily classroom instruction at the Great Lakes Boat Building School has come to an end. Moments later, the reverberation of wood being struck becomes as steady as a heartbeat.

In its third year of operation, the Great Lakes Boat Building School is sailing along, picking up more students while making additions to the curriculum. This year marks the first year the school offered a second-year program, designed to teach more intricate woodworking and attention to detail.

The focus in this advanced class is to work on more contemporary projects, building yachts similar to those being worked on in the industry today. Second-year students make extensive use of epoxy, the revolutionary all-in-one linchpin of modern boat-building. Epoxy is a plastic-like substance that acts as a combination of adhesive, varnish, and waterproofing agent.

Grant Oliver, top, and Brock Tyner combine their efforts on a project after the daily morning lecture at the Great Lakes Boat Building School in Cedarville. The school is primarily hands-on, requiring a certain amount of clock hours from each student. Inside the school, there are several types of boats in various stages of completion, ranging from launches to cutters to yachts.

“Our goal isn’t to teach students how to build one particular type of boat, but how to build boats in general,” said instructor Adam Burks, who has 14 years of building experience. “That includes using the proper materials in the proper place, using the right detail, and understanding the method they are using so they can come up with solutions that’ll work.”

Second-year boat building student Chris Eastman is focused on the task at hand, but alert to the needs of classmates who may need a helping hand. The atmosphere created by the boat school is allinclusive, offering students a chance to see what their peers are doing correctly or incorrectly. “I'm interested in all of that,” Mr. Eastman said. “We can all learn something from others' mistakes.” Working above him is Ed Forbes, a second-year student from Tawas City. Mr. Forbes, who has worked for 50 years on boats, says there is always something new to learn in the craft. Every day, the boat-building students get a bit closer to transitioning the wooden skeletons into large, seaworthy vessels. A launch is expected to be ready by graduation day in June and put in the water, culminating this school year.

Building these vessels requires student teamwork and a 9-to-5 commitment each day. Builders shape pieces of wood to fit wherever is needed. Meeting the exact specifications of each individual boat piece requires a wide assortment of cutting and planing tools, as well as a steambox for making wood pliable, which is necessary to produce a vessel’s curved pieces.

“It’s a time-intensive process,” Mr. Burks said. “If you don’t have patience, you learn it. Boat-building requires a healthy dose of perseverance and attention to detail. Every piece of the boats we’re building can be pulled out and replaced.”

With the amount of concentration required, instructors and students alike find it easy to get lost in the moment, but pausing to reflect on the evolution of boats always reinforces the timelessness of their craft.

“Students know they’re preserving something which took thousands of years to evolve,” Mr. Burks said. “Humans have been building boats way longer than we’ve had a wheel.”

Enrollment Swells to 18

With Second-level Class

With the addition of the second class, enrollment swelled from eight students last year to 18 students this year. When Chris Eastman of Grand Rapids heard the boat school was offering an opportunity for him to build upon what he learned last year, he knew he had to return for another session.

“The first year I learned a lot,” he said. “I really got my feet wet.”

Mr. Eastman signed on for his first year after his father showed him an article about the boat school in Wooden Boat magazine. The young man grew up around carpentry and was already familiar with the Upper Peninsula, so he decided to give this new experience a shot.

As soon as he stepped through the doors of the school, Mr. Eastman knew he had found his direction.

“I walked in and said, ‘This is where

want to be.' A few years ago, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a living. I knew I wanted to do carpentry or be outdoors. Boat-building was a chance for me to do both.”

It was also a chance for him to get away from the pace of a big city, joining a crew that doesn’t produce instant results, but instead produces something of value.

“I like the gratification you get when you finish a project,” Mr. Eastman said. “There is that feeling you get when you see that the person who is receiving the boat is satisfied with what you did. We make them beautiful, but we also make them functional.”

Mr. Eastman specializes in hull construction and applying finishes, often climbing into a cramped space to add the finishing touches. The sheer hours of work sheer hours of work he and others put into the vessel means that the completion of a project is bittersweet.

“The most rewarding part is when you can start a project, work on it all the way through, and be there when it launches,” he said. “It’s a funny feeling; you get attached to what you work on and don’t want to part with it sometimes. When you know someone will truly enjoy what you worked on and take care of it, it makes it easier to let it go.”

Also making it easier is that there are always new boats to work on, which is an intentional arrangement on the instructors’ part.

“That way, they get to see the whole process from start to finish,” Mr. Burks said.

When students are graduated from the school, they have the skills to explore multiple career options. In addition to boat-building, graduates can explore opportunities in the furniture industry.

“If you can build a wooden boat, there’s not much you can’t build,” Mr. Burks said.

Echoing this sentiment, Mr. Eastman said part of the appeal of working with woods is the potential he is able to see wherever he looks.

“Taking what most people take for granted, in the trees around them, and knowing that I know how to make something practical and amazing out of them is special.”

The finished boats have been donated to community groups in the past and now the school is also able to sell the boats crafted by its students.

“You Never Stop Learning

in Boat-building”

The school is recognized as a nonprofit educational and training facility licensed by the State of Michigan. Tuition for the first year is $10,500, while tuition for a first-year student returning for a second year is $8,500. Those who have been graduated from another boat-building program or who have equivalent experience may forego the first-year program. Tuition for these individuals is $10,500. Scholarships and financial aid are available for those who qualify.

Ed Forbes, who has been working on boats off and on for half a century, is one of the second year students who had the first-year requirement waived owing to his experience. Despite all of his knowledge, he felt he could still learn more of the craft by signing up for the advanced class.

“You never stop learning in boat-building,” Mr. Forbes said.