Basic Shipbuilding Knowledge Course-03

How a bulbous bow should look once finished and lofted and plated correctly

Now this is what is known as a “Bulbous Bow” and as you can see it is put together pretty well the way this type of bow should look when finished and there is a young journeyman Loftsman in this picture port side as we look on the bow.

 

Well believe it or not I have actually worked in a “shipyard” which of course must remain nameless where they launched a ship without finishing the plate work on the bulbous bow, they had too much trouble fitting the plates that they ran out of time and just launched her with a large opening in the top of the bulbous bow, she of course was in no danger of sinking or anything like that but she was a bit down by the head shall we say while sitting in the water.

Lack of some basic fundamental shipbuilding knowledge comes to mind when I heard this story, and so easy to rectify if only some time was spent on training and passing on some of the acquired knowledge gathered around such a shipyard, make you wonder eh!
There is a huge demand World Wide for experienced shipbuilders, not for people who only see the industry as just another job only interested in the wage packet, which is very important of course but welded to the wage packet should be pride in the job and any shipbuilder should be able to stand on the quayside as a ship goes by and say with pride that he or she had helped to built a safe and sea worthy vessel.

The apprenticeship system in some countries as it stands makes no allowance for actual shipbuilding and as explained above this is a gross under sight in my humble opinion, spend some time and reap the rewards further down the road instead of worry about micro managing the build process.

Have managers in place who actually know what they are doing would I am certain be of some help in the quest, shipbuilders who have actually been apprenticed as shipbuilders and have built ships not just any ships but ships to be proud of.

 

To be continued.