Chris and I worked at a marina in Boston in High School and a fiberglass row boat washed up on our docks that had leaks and had extensive damage to it. When we heard about the WISE program he thought it would be fun to learn about how to repair as well as restore the row boat. We started by researching how to fix the holes in the hull as well as the damage to the rub rails. We purchased the kit to patch the fiberglass hull and started to sand the area to prepare it for the patch. It was a nice hot day so Chris and I were in shorts and a t-shirt. We knew from sanding wood that we should wear masks to prevent us from inhaling the dust, so we had purchased masks and wore them while sanding the fiberglass.

We learned after this first experience that we should have worn clothing that covered our entire bodies because the fiberglass dust is very sharp and after we had finished sanding that day the exposed parts of our body were extremely itchy because all the tiny shards of fiberglass stuck into our skin and made us very uncomfortable for the rest of the day. After that day every time we sanded the fiberglass we wore full body suits to make sure our skin was not exposed to the fiberglass dust. After the hull was fixed we painted the hull, built a wooden bench to sit on as well as made a wooden floor board so if water got in the boat we would not have to stand in the water because it would be in the space between the wooden floor and the bottom of the hull.

I learned a lot from this experience and not just about how to restore a fiberglass boat. I learned how to schedule my time to make sure all tasks got done for the deadline of the project as well as how to motivate myself to get work done when no one was overseeing me and making sure I was doing what needed to be done. This helped me out a lot in life after High School because you do not always have someone overseeing you and making sure you get everything done that needs to be done. I would recommend this program to all seniors to help prepare them for life.