Mark Pastrone and Paul Langelier both work in the boat repair business. They run their own individual businesses out of Discovery Village in Shady Side.
Pastrone is the owner of Good Dog Boats. Since 2004, he has manufactured and sold his 10-foot Kevlar and fiberglass lake fishing boats to customers nationwide.
Langelier is the owner of West River Rigging and has the adjoining space at Discovery Village. He's been involved in repairing and re-rigging sailboats for about 30 years.
Recently, the two men decided that they would like to offer local boat owners - novices and veterans alike - a class about how to save money by doing boat repairs themselves.
They decided to offer two classes, one on sail rigging and repairs, and the other on fiberglass repair. They'll begin giving the classes on May 16. Additional classes will be added throughout the summer.
Langelier will conduct the sail rigging class, and Pastrone will conduct the fiberglass class.
As the two men talked about the possibility of helping boat owners gain information, they conducted research about what kinds of classes are available in the area.
"Other classes taught locally tend to focus on 'on the water' skills," Pastrone said. He added that there was really nobody offering this kind of information to boat owners locally or even regionally.
"Our goal is to provide students practical boat repair and improvement knowledge that is very difficult to obtain through book learning," Langelier said.
Pastrone said that someone who might need a new cleat on the mast of a sailboat might not want to disassemble and bring the whole mast in to a company like West River Rigging for such a simple repair. He said that maybe in the future those customers might need to have Langelier repair corrosion or do an overhaul, so teaching this kind of class isn't really tak--ing any business away from their existing customer base.
He added that the average boat owner just needs the knowledge to be able to do some of the repairs themselves.
"In both rigging and fiberglass work, there is as much art as there is science," Pastrone said. He added, "We are committed to de-mystifying these fields."
The classes will not cover any motor repairs or maintenance.
The men came up with a 12-hour curriculum to be delivered over two days. Each class will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on a consecutive Saturday and a Sunday. The first class begins May 16.
On each day, lunch will be provided by Shady Side Market. "They make a great sandwich over there," Pastrone added. The cost of each class is $400 per person. Both classes will have hands-on activities, demonstrations and practice sessions.
The outline for the fiberglass class includes a materials overview, tools, cosmetic and structural repair, cosmetic and structural improvement, and maintenance.
The sailboat rigging course will offer an introduction to rigging, an overview of materials, tools, rig design and safety, standing rigging, running rigging, as well as advanced topics like electrical, furling, hydraulic systems and lightening protection. Each class is limited to 10 participants.
The classes will be conducted at Discovery Village, 4800 Atwell Road in Shady Side. For registration information, call 410-867-3210.
Mitchelle Stephenson is a freelance writer living in Edgewater.
I've been looking for a course like this. Can't wait to attend!
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