Alex,
I used to be on the Advisory Board for the Design Program at the Landing School. It is one of the best trade schools in the country, if not the world, to learn the fundamentals of boat design, boat building, and marine systems. Believe me, there is absolutely no way that you could combine all three programs into one 10 month term. You could not even combine two programs together. The students work so hard, and spend so much time on their class work and shop work that there are not enough hours in the day to accommodate all of the information that you will learn.
In the design program alone, students usually arrive in class by 8:00 AM, some even earlier, and they will stay there often times until late at night, sometimes to midnight or later, just to get their work done. It is highly competitive.
The software that is used in the design program is Multisurf for the 3-D modelling, and AutoCad for drafting. They may have Rhino, but Rhino is not tailored necessarily to boat design. That is, it does not have built-in hydrostatics and stability calculation modules that Multisurf has.
In boat building, you get training primarily in wood construction, which includes cold molding. There are some classes in composite construction that includes vacuum bagging. Again, there is a lot of information to digest, and you have to build the boats, and that takes time on task. They build boats up to 26', both power and sail, and they have quite a number of each being built at the same time, so it is a pretty busy place. All of these boats are sold at the end of the class year in June. The orders are backlogged a few years in advance--a customer has to get on the waiting list for one of them.
In marine systems, you get to work on actual boats learning how to do fiberglass repairs (you cut holes in them, then patch them up again.) You take apart marine equipment and engines, and you put them back together. You have to rip out old machinery and systems from actual boats (donated by owners) and install new machinery and systems. A lot of the classwork is done in accordance with ABYC standards, and they offer certification in certain ABYC programs along with your course certificate.
In all three programs, there is more material to study than can be crammed into a 10-month period. We had a hard time from year to year to decide what classwork to include, and what could be afford to leave out. They were not easy decisions. A lot of your questions should be directed directly to the Landing School, they will be happy to answer them. Be prepared to work hard.
Eric
