Great Lakes Boat Building School

While we were in Cedarville, Michigan in Les Cheneaux Islands we, our friends Alvin and Dianne, and Ray and Diane from Radian Journey walked to the nearby Great Lakes Boat Building School for a tour. GLBBS has a well-designed facility and an impressive trade school curriculum, offering one-year certificate programs in either wood boat building and restoration, or marine service technology. Almost all of the curriculum is hands-on work on real boats. Over its 15 year history, the school has a 100% placement rate for graduates. We were impressed with the school and the craftsmanship of GLBBS student projects.

This 18′ Gravelly Island Skiff was recently built from scratch by GLBBS students. It will belong to the winner of the school’s 2021 fund-raising raffle.

We could not keep our hands off of the smooth finishes.

This lapstrake skiff is another student project.

This island canoe also is being built by students.

GLBBS students are refinishing this classic Chris Craft.

This good-looking (the boat AND the First Mate) “practice boat” is used for real-life lessons.

Great Lakes Boatbuilding School offers two week intensive summer workshops in which each student builds (from a Chesapeake Light Craft kit) a wooden kayak, paddleboard, or larger boat. I was intrigued by GLBBS and plan to keep this on my radar for a future learning experience.