Hello! I am Cathy Landergan a high school teacher. I’m not a shop teacher, my background is CADD (AutoCAD) and I wanted to create a connection between the plans and building the boats. My pre-engineering students built the classic Marblehead pond model from the Madcap plans. They start the class by creating the templates using CADD.

We have a full woodshop including band saw etc. And the kids did do the fiber-glassing, and we started from the CADD plans.

I’m also inviting local companies when possible to come into the classroom. Doyle Sailmakers helped us create the sails and we did a field trip to see the sails being made etc.

Here are some pictures of the Marblehead’s from last year at various stages. We made 4 boats, 3 of which were finished except for the electronics because we ran out of time.

Students worked in teams of 2 or 3. We sold one of the boats, and it’s my hope that we will be able to fund the program from the sale of these boats. It’s a little sad that the kids can’t keep the boats but there’s no way to split up a boat between three kids. At least they have the knowledge to make their own.

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