Boatbuilding & Restoration

If you are looking for a career in Boatbuilding School In New England, IYRS is the school for you!

Boatbuilding & Restoration | Accredited 20 month program | Meets Monday through Friday, 8:30-5 | Enrolls in September

Master the craft and fundamentals of woodworking while restoring, building, and finishing classic wooden boats.

The Boatbuilding & Restoration program will train you in the complete wooden boatbuilding process where you’ll learn from expert woodworkers and boatbuilders and work alongside fellow craftspeople. The skills learned in this program set up students to thrive not just as wooden boatbuilders and restorers, but as marine carpenters, furniture makers, historic preservationists, builders, and more.

As the only nationally accredited, two-year wooden boatbuilding program in the country, our hiring partners share that the second year of this program sets our graduates apart with their advanced woodworking and project management skills. Not only that, but our students experience the pride and excitement of launching and sailing the boats they've restored twice, at the conclusion of each school year.

Prior woodworking experience is not necessary, but a passion for creating and building with your hands is. This immersive program sets up students to thrive as highly skilled craftspeople in today’s job market.

Explore the Boatbuilding & Restoration program

YEAR ONE

The first year focuses on the restoration of a traditional plank-on-frame wooden boat. Students will restore and launch a Beetle Cat^TM, executing every element from research and documentation to hull measurement, lofting, drafting and half-model making, all while developing essential teamwork and project management skills. The highlight of the first year is Launch Day when students launch and sail their newly restored Beetle Cats in Newport Harbor.

YEAR TWO

The second year offers a larger challenge: restoring legends of American yacht design including Lawley, Herreshoff, Alden, Hunt, Stephens, and others. During this year, students refine their craftsmanship skills, undertake project management of the restoration, and work in teams to achieve the important goal of restoring a beautiful classic wooden yacht to the water.

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Curriculum

Year One

The program begins with shop safety and tool and machine use. Students will progress from a series of bench projects designed to develop tool-use skills directly into the restoration of a Beetle Cat sailboat. In addition to the restoration work, students will measure a small boat, loft the lines, and create a scale lines plan and half model. Portfolio items completed by the end of the semester will include several small tools, a toolbox, a lines drawing, a half-model, and photo documentation of restoration projects. Subjects covered will include hull shape, lines drawings, and the fundamentals of wooden hull construction, materials and technology. Students will move on to develop full-size construction details on the lofting.

Following the lofting students will have a two week introductory course in the use of the CAD (computer aided design) program, Rhino. Project documentation techniques are introduced. Students continue the restoration of their project boat. Portfolio items for the second semester will include a second lines plan and construction drawings and photo documentation of restoration projects. Subjects covered will include hull shape and lines drawings, construction drawings, basic structural marine engineering, fundamentals of wooden hull construction and materials and technology.

Externship

All students complete an externship, facilitated through Career Development, at the conclusion of the first year. Through the externship, students apply the skills they've acquired in the shop to the workplace while gaining valuable business, resume-building, and hands-on experience:

Resume writing
Industry research
Interviewing & professional communication
Application of craftsmanship & technical skills in a business environment
Relationship building with employers

Learn more about the IYRS externship program here.

Year Two

The first term begins with a review of shop safety. The first week is dedicated to a course in hull survey and assessment resulting in student survey reports of selected vessels. The second week is dedicated to a course in project management. Included in the project management course are real time exercises in materials costing and procurement, labor estimates, business fundamentals, and contracts and customer relations. Students then begin the restoration of their second year project boat.

Project management and labor estimating are applied directly to the second year restoration project. During advanced lofting, students learn the techniques used to transfer the shape of the faired hull to patterns and molds used in the restoration of the subject boat. Students then focus on the restoration of the hull framework and planking. Students also focus on improving craftsmanship skills while incorporating project management skills. Portfolio items will include photographic documentation of restoration project, survey report, bill of materials, table of scantlings, labor estimate, contract agreement, and lines /construction plans.

What It's Like to Build a Boat at IYRS

APPLY TO THE BOATBUILDING & RESTORATION PROGRAM

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

SHOP SKILLS

Craftsmanship & Artistry
Hand & Power Tool Use
Woodworking Processes & Techniques
Shop Safety
Material Properties
Manual Drafting
Introduction to CAD
Lofting
Steam-bending
Plank-on-frame Restoration
Joinery
Photographic Documentation

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

Business Acumen
Project Management
Entrepreneurialism
Teamwork & Communication
Survey & Assessment
Time Management

Recent Employers

At IYRS, you’ll go beyond boatbuilding to receive a comprehensive education in marine woodworking. By mastering traditional and contemporary boatbuilding skills, you’ll be ready to tackle any woodworking challenge, from fine furniture making to historic restoration and preservation to home construction.

IYRS provided extensive education in all things related to working on wooden boats; from lofting to planking and from fine joinery to project management. It allowed me to enter the wooden boat community with not only the theory, but the hands-on experience necessary to build, repair, and restore traditional wooden boats and yachts.- Jens Lange '10,
Owner of Baltic Boat Works

NEWSWEEK NAMES
IYRS
ONE OF THE
BEST MAKER SCHOOLS IN THE WORLD

Newsweek named IYRS one of the Best Maker Schools in the world for 2021. Winners of this prestigious award are institutions of higher education that have curricula that encourages learning by doing; are supported by educators committed to collaborative problem-solving; have well-developed makerspaces, labs, and studios; and which support diverse, interactive communities that engage in knowledge and skill sharing. The award highlights institutions with innovative programs that demonstrate the ingenuity and community engagement that are hallmarks of the maker movement.

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