Specialist Shipwright
Specialist shipwright Simon Sadubin is continuing one of this city’s oldest traditions.
The owner of Sydney Harbour Wooden Boats says people have been building boats on our famous waterway almost continuously since the arrival of the First Fleet.
“There was an unbroken tradition until the late 1970s and then it sort of went through the doldrums,” he says. “But it has re-emerged and there has been a renaissance of timber boat building world-wide.”
Using imported and local timbers including huon pine and spotted gum, Sadubin builds and restores three to four boats each year at his Chowder Bay boatshed. It is a time-consuming process.
“If it’s really traditional you fasten it all together with copper nails,” he says.
“Some projects can take up to a year to complete and you have to be patient to turn up and just keep chipping away.” Sadubin’s love affair with wooden boats began when he started racing dinghies on Pittwater as a young boy.
“Dad was a furniture maker. He had a workshop and I spent a lot of time making things with wood, so I always had a real love of timber,” he says. On leaving school Sadubin became a trainee naval architect, and dreamt of becoming a yacht designer.
“I did it for a couple of years but realised I was essentially going to become an engineer,” he says. He retrained as an exhibition designer but never got boats out of his system. Five years later he began a mature-age apprenticeship as a shipwright with Timber Boat Builders in Balmain.
“To do something like this you have to be really passionate.” he says. “It’s a hard slog to get established, but once you’re there it’s a nice way to earn a living.” He tries to get out each week in his own wooden boat, a 24-foot Ranger-class design native to Sydney Harbour.
Qualification: Apprentice shipwrights need to complete a Certificate III in Marine Craft Construction at TAFE (Course No. 9272). The course is also open to people who have entered into a relevant contract of training.
Course description: As well as covering specific industry skills in the marine-craft construction trade area, the course covers workplace communication, occupational health and safety, quality procedures and planning. Duration may vary depending on the training pathway agreed to by the employer and the employee. A standard pathway will consist of off-the-job training
Costs: The course costs $600 per year. As a trainee or apprentice the TAFE NSW fee is capped at $384 per year.
Assumed knowledge: There are no formal educational requirements.
From the inside: Sydney Harbour Wooden Boats shipwright Simon Sadubin (pictured) says training as a shipwright is a good background for people looking to get into the boating industry.
Building wooden boats is only one small niche in the market, he says, and many shipwrights will work as detailers or manage charter fleets.
“These days they teach you a bit of everything, they teach you a bit of fibreglass, a bit of steel, there’s a timber component — they’re all the common things you come into contact with when you’er building boats.”
More information: 131 601, tafensw.edu.au
