This week lesson focuses on first aid for the two days and drawing of the 7.3 metres yacht exercise. The First Aid is a good refresher for me as my last first aid lessons were back in the late 1990 with the chemical/gasification plant where I worked till year 2000.
Overall the first aid course was boring though there were several new areas of learnings for me. Areas beyond first aid such as different types of medical conditions were new learnings for me. The boredom was temporarily removed with the practices for learning how to apply dressings and bandages. As a former trainer, I would think that the handouts could be better done (more detailed separate handouts) instead of getting the students to copy down from the overhead projections. The tutors could also do with more enthusiastic approach and "talk more with all the students" rather than focusing on the right side of the class. I found the CPR practices useful especially on youth and baby (which I thought was rather inappropriate for first aid relating to work place, though nevertheless useful for audience with young family). One and half day duration would have been sufficient to cover all the contents.
The Wednesday lesson on drawing came as a "refreshing breeze" as I got to use my hands instead of just a auditory passive learning mode, when we worked on the drawing of the 7.3 metre yacht exercise. Putting into practice what we have learned so far from the previous learnings on the lofting exercise onto the drawing board/table. This is a good building learning building on the foundation gained from the lofting floor drawing exercises.
The scale format presented me with some problems of readings and I experienced some confusion in drawing the butt line 1200 on the half breadth view. The small scale also presented another challenge to my eyesight trying to estimate and read off faction of the decimal points on the scale ruler with the given table of offsets. Nevertheless the drawing table is easier physically to work on than on the lofting floor. A good end before the mid semester break.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Fifth week at UNITEC CAT course - reflections
This week is a continuation of the lofting exercise from the fourth week with more hand-on drawings on the 2.5 dingy. Leaving the table of offsets after the major references points and lines are drawn, I learn to use the tick sticks to cross references the points on my drawings of the half breadth onto the body plan. The drawing transom was also completed again projecting this time from the profile.
Key learnings are:
1) There are critical points of reference this dingy design which contain important details or information as to the shapes and overall structure of the boat. These are the butt 100, and 250.
2) The other critical reference points/lines for all boat designs are the Loaded Water Lines (LWL), the Chines (unless it is a round bottom boat), the deckline or sheer and Canoe body line as well as a ghost line (if there is a stem - in a stitch and glue design there may not be a stem). These lines give an overall image of the shape of the boat.
3) The table of offsets is used only in the initial transfer of the dimensions of the boat onto the drawing/paper. Once the basic lines are in, the table offsets become a minor document as further drawings are then taken off from the lines and drawings already made. This is where the errors made in the initial transfers from the table of offsets get "compounded" in the subsequent lines to be drawn. Intersecting points are taken from the profile for the height and from the half breadth for the width to determine where the referred points should be on the drawing. This is where the tick sticks come in useful. So from a two dimension drawing, I could draw out the "3th dimension" to transfer onto another drawing such as the body plan and the transom in this week exercise.
The fourth and fifth weeks have been quite taxing on my body having to drawing on the "floor" which is not something I usually work at that level. The working posture causes my back to ache. Maybe it was getting used to that posture but the fifth week is "more enlightening" than the fourth week (I was getting frustrated in the fourth week especially on the second day with my inaccurate drawing of the lines) as I was able to see "the light" after making the reference points/intersections between the various drawings of the profile and half breadth with the body plan and later with the transom. This is the most interesting highlight of learning for the fifth week. This fifth week is also a time I seem to be able to make judgmental assessment of whether my drawn lines were "OK" though not necessarily correct (as the errors I made earlier in the fourth week got "compounded" and lines went out of the measurements when I checked them). Nevertheless I felt at the end of the third day that I had learned the basic principles of lofting. This feeling shall be confirmed with the table exercise of the 7.3 yacht on the A4 paper in coming week. .
Key learnings are:
1) There are critical points of reference this dingy design which contain important details or information as to the shapes and overall structure of the boat. These are the butt 100, and 250.
2) The other critical reference points/lines for all boat designs are the Loaded Water Lines (LWL), the Chines (unless it is a round bottom boat), the deckline or sheer and Canoe body line as well as a ghost line (if there is a stem - in a stitch and glue design there may not be a stem). These lines give an overall image of the shape of the boat.
3) The table of offsets is used only in the initial transfer of the dimensions of the boat onto the drawing/paper. Once the basic lines are in, the table offsets become a minor document as further drawings are then taken off from the lines and drawings already made. This is where the errors made in the initial transfers from the table of offsets get "compounded" in the subsequent lines to be drawn. Intersecting points are taken from the profile for the height and from the half breadth for the width to determine where the referred points should be on the drawing. This is where the tick sticks come in useful. So from a two dimension drawing, I could draw out the "3th dimension" to transfer onto another drawing such as the body plan and the transom in this week exercise.
The fourth and fifth weeks have been quite taxing on my body having to drawing on the "floor" which is not something I usually work at that level. The working posture causes my back to ache. Maybe it was getting used to that posture but the fifth week is "more enlightening" than the fourth week (I was getting frustrated in the fourth week especially on the second day with my inaccurate drawing of the lines) as I was able to see "the light" after making the reference points/intersections between the various drawings of the profile and half breadth with the body plan and later with the transom. This is the most interesting highlight of learning for the fifth week. This fifth week is also a time I seem to be able to make judgmental assessment of whether my drawn lines were "OK" though not necessarily correct (as the errors I made earlier in the fourth week got "compounded" and lines went out of the measurements when I checked them). Nevertheless I felt at the end of the third day that I had learned the basic principles of lofting. This feeling shall be confirmed with the table exercise of the 7.3 yacht on the A4 paper in coming week. .
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