Budget Marine was happy to host a group of 3rdyear high school students who are building a sailboat as part of a school project. Rodger Stringa, who is the coordinator of the project, has worked in the marine industry doing repairs on sailboats and mega yachts. ‘The objective for the field trip was to get the students familiar with the industry and show them the many career options available in the marine environment. This group is very dedicated and this field trip to Budget Marine was a reward for the work they have put forward. ‘
The students were welcomed and given a short history of Budget Marine followed by a tour through the Budget Marine building which included showing the large warehouse and its operations. The teens were very impressed with the large assortment of products as well as the logistic organization that it involves which resulted in many questions from the students. Next stop was showing the paint room with the AWLGrip mixing station and the broad range of paints, resins and epoxies. The students got to learn about what it takes to keep track of the storage life of paint as well as the safety precautions that need to be taken into account when offering a paint service. They were also shown the retail store with extra emphasis placed and information given on the plywood station, the big roles of fiberglass cloths, and West System and Clear Cote epoxy and resins in the Boat Building section, as these are products the students are used to handling in building their boat. Even Stringa was impressed when he saw the service department as he was not aware that Budget Marine also services Dinghies and Outboards.
In image: Students receiving a briefing from Eric Knight of Budget Marine in the retail store.
After the successful tour the group could sit back and relax during a lagoon cruise on Jukkels Stukkels, a 21ft Launch owned by Robbie Ferron, founder and director of Budget Marine. Ferron commentated whilst driving his boat so the students could experience the Marina’s, Mega Yachts and Lagoon activities themselves first hand. The tour ended with lots of smiles and gifts to take home.
In image: Happy faces of the MPC students with their Project Coordinator Rodger Stringa, flanked by Ellen van Holland – Little, Eric Knight and the Founder Robbie Ferron of Budget Marine.
