BUSINESS PROFILE: INTERNATIONAL BOATBUILDING SERVICES
Oulton Broad
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| The vessel Escape in mid restoration. Photo: SUPPLIED |
The proud East Coast tradition of boatbuilding in the old fashioned
way is alive and well in Oulton Broad.
And a unique college there is not only helping to keep historic
sailing ships afloat but teaching old skills to new generations
of craftsmen.
The International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC Ltd)
has been training people of all ages and abilities in the
skills and techniques required to build and restore traditional
wooden boats for 33 years.
A fine example of the college’s restoration work, the Lydia
Eva, will be at the Yarmouth Maritime Festival in September and
the college is having an open day on Saturday October 11 to give
anyone interested a good idea of what courses it offers.
Many IBTC students are those, who having built a first career behind
a desk and a computer screen, then chose a second career building
wooden boats with their own hands.
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| The restored Escape ready to launch. Photo: SUPPLIED |
Past students have included stockbrokers, managing directors, doctors,
physicists, engineers, artists, actors, RAF and commercial pilots,
solicitors, nurses, policemen and computer programmers.
The IBTC, owned and run by Nat and Gill Wilson, offers “hands
on, practical” courses where the work is done first in a joinery
shop where all the basic skills are taught and then in boatsheds
where all students work on any and all of the 30 plus wooden boats
that are in the throes of either new build or major restoration.
The boats that students work on are selected on the basis of providing
a wide range of variety in terms of types of boat, size, method
of build and level of quality of work required - predominantly yachts
from eminent designers.
The College is owned and run privately and has no government funding.
Courses are expensive, but staff are not constrained by the paper
work and red tape which restrict some other colleges.
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| The Lydia Eva gets her new mizzen mast. Photo: SUPPLIED |
All projects at the college have owners as in any other boatyard,
and Mr and Mrs Wilson can run the whole enterprise almost as if
it was a commercial boatyard - giving students experience of a real
working environment with commercial expectations.
Mr Wilson said: “At present most of our students opt to do
our 47-week practical boatbuilding course, but we do shorter courses
also, from a 35-week furniture making course, to a three-day routing
course, and tailor made courses for individual requirements.
“It is also worth noting that the skills acquired on these
courses are highly transferable, with some students going on to
build green oak timber frame houses, build bespoke fitted kitchens,
and do listed building work such as restoration of sash windows.
“In these days of impending layoffs in the financial sector,
those who are aching for an excuse to get away from the desk and
the flat screen, and get their hands dirty creatively, a visit to
our website may spark a whole new career.”
The college has nine training staff and also six staff in its commercial
wing which carries out work on projects separate to the college.
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| Students marking in the waterline on the new-build Cloud.
Photo: SUPPLIED |
The staff cover all aspects of traditional boatbuilding and many
related subjects such as rigging, timber milling, furniture making,
welding, plumbing and marine electrics.
Mr Wilson said: “We are getting more and more involved in
historic ship work and have begun work on a project to build a replica
of the James Caird for an Australian re-enactment of Shackleton’s
journey.”
The International Boatbuilding Training College (IBTC Ltd) can be
found at 6 Sea Lake Road, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, NR32 3LQ and
can be contacted on (01502) 569663 (tel), 01502 500661 (fax) or
at ibtc@globalnet.co.uk (email). Opening hours are 8am to 4.30pm,
weekdays. The college closes only for Christmas holiday and bank
holidays.
Visit the web site www.ibtc.co.uk