The Trumbly Show

This is a narrative account of the 19 months the author spent in the Boat Building Program at L.H. Bates Vocational-Technical Institute in Tacoma, Washington, from 1977-1979, and of his work in boatyards during that period. The instructor was Joe Trumbly, who had taught the course for 22 years and was in his last two years before retirement. At the time, Trumbly was nationally known among boatbuilders, and his training program was regarded as the best in the United States. He was an...
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This is a narrative account of the 19 months the author spent in the Boat Building Program at L.H. Bates Vocational-Technical Institute in Tacoma, Washington, from 1977-1979, and of his work in boatyards during that period. The instructor was Joe Trumbly, who had taught the course for 22 years and was in his last two years before retirement. At the time, Trumbly was nationally known among boatbuilders, and his training program was regarded as the best in the United States. He was an extraordinary teacher who ran his class the only way he knew, as a working boatyard with him as foreman. Much of Trumbly's strength in teaching derived from his unusually diverse career. He worked as a welder on steel ships during WWII, and as lead man in boatyards during the last years of production wooden boatbuilding. He designed, built, and raced powerboats. He designed and single-handedly built his own 40-foot wooden sailboat (and after retirement, a 51-footer). He designed production and one-off sailboats on commission. He designed and modeled propellers, had them cast, and tested them. He invented new tools and techniques in boatbuilding and was among the top loftsmen in the world. This book tells Trumbly's story from the point of view the author's interactions with him, and with the boatbuilding industry of which Trumbly was such an integral part. Chapter 1 introduces Trumbly and Tacoma. Chapter 2 tells how the author developed an interest in boats while working in Alaska. Chapters 3 and 4 present necessary background: how boats are built, and the importance and history of lofting. Chapters 5 through 15 continue chronologically with the author's training at Bates and work in boatyards, with insights into the personalities of Tacoma boatbuilders and life in Tacoma in the late 1970s. Chapter 16 summarizes Trumbly's life, and Chapter 17 is an afterword: the fates of some of the people in the book and of the Bates Boat Building Program after 1979. The book contains 30 original, previously unpublished black-and-white photographs taken from 1977 to 1979 that illustrate the textual content.