The Wooden Boat Centre is pleased to announce that it will begin a comprehensive two-year course in all aspects of wooden boatbuilding beginning in February 2019. Cody Horgan has just been employed to lead the instruction of students through this full-time course.
“We are very excited to welcome Cody as our lead instructor,” the President of the Franklin Working Waterfront Association, owners the Wooden Boat Centre, Mr Graham Rankin, said today.
Cody trained in Franklin about 20 years ago and has had a varied and interesting career in wooden boatbuilding since that time. He spent many years working on the Australian Maritime Museum fleet and the Sydney Heritage Fleet. This has included major works and maintenance to vessels like ‘Endeavour’, the World War II vessel ‘Krait’, an Edwardian steam launch ‘Ena’ as well as for a time leading the team working on the tall ship ‘James Craig’. Cody also worked at the Halverson yards at Kissing Point and Bobbin Head, providing restoration and maintenance to Halverson vessels.
The course will see students begin to hone their fine woodworking skills by constructing a ‘boatbuilders tool chest’. Then progressively they will construct Clinker and Carvel vessels, carry out heritage restoration work and learn more modern techniques whilst making plywood tenders, strip planked canoes and kayaks.
“We are looking forward to welcoming Australian and international students into the course,” the boat school manager, Anne Holst, said.
“We will keep the group small to ensure personalised instruction.”
The students will enjoy the opportunity to work alongside skilled shipwrights currently working in industry and will have the opportunity to practice skills on jobs that come into the shed during the course. This will give students experience working for clients and managing the progress of projects.
“Some of our shipwrights have travelled the world honing their craft and will now be able to share their skills with a new generation,” Wooden Boat Centre staff member, Julie Hinks, said.
It is expected that on completion of the two-year course students will have significant craftsmanship skills and a solid portfolio of the work they have completed.
“It will give them the skills and experience to chart their own careers in the fine woodworking industries,” Anne said.
