Without a doubt, the best decision I could have made prior to buying Fearless was to attend the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport, RI. Boat ownership is 90% maintenance, so it behooves anyone considering the sailing lifestyle to invest some time in learning how to troubleshoot and fix boat systems. It doesn’t have to be as comprehensive as a six-month program. Even a weekend workshop will pay dividends.
I make no secret of my admiration for the trades and my experience as a student at the IYRS School of Technology and Trades. As a student ambassador, I had the opportunity to give back something to the school at recruiting events, and my enthusiasm for what IYRS is doing has only grown since I graduated in June 2019. One of many things that impressed me about IYRS was the caliber of the other students, young and old. Even with all of the experience and education I had after nearly three decades of naval service I found myself sprinting to keep up. After I finished the course of instruction I worked for four months at Jamestown Boat Yard on Connanicut Island in the Narragansett Bay, RI.
I wrote about how valuable the experience at IYRS was for me in this blog post. This video captures my sentiments in a different forum along with some of the student ambassadors.
The Value of YouTube
I don’t want to get into the habit of making a video every time I perform maintenance on the boat, but I do want to be more than a consumer of information. I have gone to YouTube so many times looking for ways to tackle projects in the past, I feel I should try in some small way to give back.
Engine Maintenance Video
In this video I show what I did to service injectors and perform valve clearance as part of a 2000-hour service on my YANMAR 54hp 4JH5E main engines.