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Graduate Case Studies

WHAT OUR STUDENTS HAVE GONE ON TO ACHIEVE

The student case studies show what a representative sample of people have gone on to do after longer courses and how they have used their skills after the course. Graduates of the 40-week Boat Building and 12-week Furniture Making courses have gone on to work in all aspects of boat building and woodworking industries.

Some have gone to work for industry leaders and prestigous yards in the UK and beyond, whilst others have chosen to set up businesses of their own. Others have utilised the transferrable skills of the course to embark on careers in woodworking and furniture making.

Graduates are working at, to name a few, Spirit Yachts, Elephant Boatyard, Cockwells, Sunseeker and T. Nielsen and Co. and Douglas Marine.

Boat Building
Emily S

Emily Stokes took the course from May 2021 to March 2022. Emily explained: “I wanted to change careers from working as a

Boat Building
Otto M

Otto took part in the 40-week boat building course in May 2021. ‘Bluetree boat builders’ has since been started by students from

Boat Building
Obi O

Obi took part in the 40-week boat building course in May 2021. Since then, she has become a director at Women in

Boat Building
Johnathon S

Johnathon took part in 40-week boat building course in February 2019.

Boat Building
Ben C

Ben Tcharny is a bespoke furniture maker and joiner, based in South London. Creating and making furniture is a passion that can be judged from both the originality of the design and the quality of the finished article…

Boat Building
Lee U

Lee says ‘The course was a great foundation for working at Douglas Marine, but it is hard work being thrown in at the deep end.  There are so many boats that you need years of experience to be fully rounded.  But the BBA course is very well regarded and my boss is keen to get other Boat Building Academy graduates on board.’

Boat Building
Geoff B

He found the course to be an extraordinary experience and really did not want to leave. Since graduating from the Academy, Geoff has secured a workshop (easily accommodating a couple of 18-foot boats) near Dorchester and set up ‘Bowker Marine Services’.

Boat Building
Keith M

Following the course Keith established his own business, Daydream Boats, just to the south of Bristol. His first project was the major restoration of a 1920 International Twelve dinghy ‘Waterfly’, built in North Wales. On completion ‘Waterfly’ and her restoration were featured in both ‘Watercraft’ and ‘Classic Boat’ magazines.

Laure M

Before joining the 12-week Woodworking Skills course, Laure worked as an oilfield engineer on rigs and platforms before she worked her way