Inspecting Wooden Boats
A professional approch to assessing wooden boats.
- David Wyman, SAMS-AMS —June 3–9
Tuition: $750
To be truly qualified to survey wooden boats and yachts requires a tremendous diversity of experience and expertise. David Wyman spent years working on boats before he hung out his surveyor’s shingle. He has years of building, repair, and operation experience and has earned a stellar reputation in the marine surveying business. WoodenBoat School is very pleased to provide this forum in whichDave can pass on some of his hard-earned knowledge.
This course will meet for lectures and discussions in our Boathouse classroom, but much of the teaching is done by field work. You will go through boats from keel to truck learning how to look, where to look. You will focus on wooden hull design and construction, the hows and whys of success and failure. You will explore the methods for detection of current and potential problems with rot, corrosion, fractures, and joint failures—how they might be fixed, and how they could have been prevented. You will learn to look at boats in differing terms of the owner, the potential buyer, and the insurer. The course will also touch upon engines, electrical systems, sails and rigging. And you’ll discuss the actual business of surveying—writing reports, liability, dealing with owners and brokers. David has certainly seen a lot of boats in a lot of situations, and he will definitely have a story or two to share.
Our surveying courses have been very popular since WoodenBoat School began back in 1981. Students range from insurance agents with an obvious need to understand what makes a boat safe, to boatyard managers and brokers wishing to provide better customer service and more accurate estimates, to amateurs with shopping plans in mind, to USCG inspectors, and—of course—to people currently working, or thinking of working, in this demanding profession. This particular course is ideally suited for practicing marine surveyors who may need more information on traditional and non-traditional wood construction.
It is an amazing experience to be at your place. The first person that I met when I arrived said to me, ‘It’s not about getting the class project completed, it’s about spending time with quality people.’ I didn’t realize that, truly, until after I left as I reflected on my experience on the drive back home. WoodenBoat School is a great place with special people. One can make friends for a lifetime in just one short week. I am very grateful for the time spent there and for the entire experience. I couldn’t have asked for more. 
