Newport Marine Trades Student Randomly Conducts Electrical Work on Boat Used in Wes Anderson Movie

IYRS School of Technology and Trades Marine Systems Student David Broadbent recently was given the task of choosing a boat in one of the school’s boat yards to “dig through their electrical systems” and create a presentation to show what work needs to be done to get the vessel up to snuff.

A boat caught his eye. He said it looked like a “dilapidated old lobster boat,” labeled “Island Police.”

It turns out that that ragged-looking boat is actually a piece of movie history. It served a role in the Wes Anderson film, Moonrise Kingdom, a critically-acclaimed film much of which was shot here in the Ocean State.

“When I found out it was used as Bruce Willis’s characters police boat in the film, I knew I would be using it for the presentation,” Broadbent said.

The experience was eye-opening. He had to contort around engines, puzzle his way through complex wiring schematics and generally having an “eye opening experience.”

“Building boating systems on a big piece of plywood is one thing, but once you are in the confines of an actual boat things get complicated fast” he wrote in a blog post at the IYRS website.

So did he pass the electrical exam? What happened when he took his newfound skills to his own messy boat only to be told by his fiancee to shower before being allowed to sit down?

Click through to the IYRS blog to get the story in Broadbent’s words.