Nationality: St Vincent & the Grenadines
Age: 42
Position: Fiberglass & Gel Coat Technician
Time with B+G: 5 years
From in Covid time, Todd and I were on a project. And from then from ever since then, I’ve been on and off with B+G. But I’ve been full time about three to four years, working for this company. I’m known as a fiberglass and gel coat technician. Which means I can do anything with fiberglass and also a smooth finish with gel coat.
But being a fiberglass technician doesn’t really cover what I do, you know, because I am more of a finisher kind of guy as well. So we can do the nitty gritty in building the boat structural, but also making it look very good at the end.
I’m a fiberglass technician, but I do so much things outside fiberglass that being a fiberglass technician doesn’t cover the title of what I do. You know that’s how I see it, because I am also a very good finisher because I’m not afraid to be spraying Awlgrip.
You have to have a good sense of seeing. You have to have a good eye vision, and you also have to know what you’re doing in bodyworking as well.
And all that that comes under fairing and finishing product. So fairing, spraying gel coat, spraying Awlgrip, dustless blasting, sealing hatches, sealing windows. What a wide variety, painting, bottom painting, bottom stripping, you use chemicals to strip antifouling off the bottom of a boat, buffing, ceramic coating, which something that we just did on the same boat.
It’s a large range. When it comes to what maintenance that we do, especially in being a fiberglass technician.
What’s your favorite job you’ve worked on so far?
This going to go back so far. Years ago, there’s a job that Todd and I did, it was a very technical job. That job was technical. I think that was one of the hardest job to do because we had to build in a box a specific way in which the company wanted it. The guys who made that boat send us a drawing of how much lay ups they need to be done to the box.
The area in which a box is on a boat it’s a very tight, tight spot, and that job could not have been done unless you have the right tools, unless there was a right guidance, unless there was the right, you know, chain of command that gives you order and you just complete that order and that job, to me, stand out because it’s something that I never did before, but because I had the knowledge of fiberglass work along with the managers.
Like I keep saying, like I keep saying that they always put us in a position where we can learn, where we can get better at what we do. And so that job was a very, very interesting job. That was one of my favorite job.
And what was the box you had to build?
I can’t remember, it was a box for a bearing. I think that it had something to do with the rudder. Yeah, but, yeah, something to do with removing the old bearing from within the boat, but we had to build a box for the bearing and then install a new bearing inside a box.
But where the box is situated under the engine, like in the engine room, is a very tight spot. So to get the old box cut out and grind and glassed and clean, that job was a doozy. But it came out very, very, very nice. And, Todd was happy and I was very much please.
So that was that’s a stand out job for me and I always think back on the job and realize that, boy, this company puts you in position where they are going to allow you to stretch out and see what else you can do outside your label.
I think this boat, right back there, that’s called Bad Girl. It’s also another job [AwlGrip and bottom paint] that I was very pleased with that came from Saint Croix. Just so much jobs. But that’s a recent one that I’m very happy with.
