Meet former software designer and now BBA student Jesh Maxey, who may be building the most powerful boat ever to come out of our 40-week course.
Jesh, 33, from Bletchley, is part of our newest boatbuilding cohort, currently getting to grips with tools and techniques in our upstairs workshop, before moving downstairs to build a range of beautiful wooden boats.
Jesh already has big plans, as he explains:
“I am commissioning and building a19ft planing hull boat powered by an outboard.
“I was lucky to grow up around the water and enjoy fast, fun boats from which we would water ski, race donuts and generally have a great time as a family.
“My boat – which I may call Bean – will be very much a leisure/lifestyle boat that I can throw food and a cooler into and enjoy with five or so friends and family – and the aim is for it to be fast.”
Boat hulls can be built in several different shapes. Planing hulls typically have a flat or modified V-shaped shape, which creates the boat bottom to lift as the boat gains speed allowing the vessel to rise and skim across the surface of the water, reducing the amount of hull in contact with the water. This decreased wetted surface area results in less drag, making it possible for the boat to travel faster, which is particularly effective for smaller, faster boats.
To maximise speed, Jesh is looking into fitting a retro 125-150 horsepower mercury outboard engine, whose expected speeds would be 25-30 knots (29-35 mph) and would make it the fastest boat produced to date on our course.
He says: “I’m not quite sure whether a retro mercury engine is possible yet – I have emailed a guy in the United States who restores old mercury outboard engines to ask what it would take and cost to get one. A lot of what happens will depend on that.
“At the moment I am just enjoying the course and soaking up as much information and knowledge as I can, alongside my classmates.
“After being a software developer, then a product manager creating solely with computers, I am very excited by the prospect of creating something beautiful from wood.”
Jesh adds: “This course represents a challenging and thrilling pause in my working life and I’m going to stay completely open to where it takes me next.”
