Summer break for the average high schooler may include many afternoons by the pool, staying up late and sleeping in and perhaps a vacation or two. For Patrick Ingram, it included complex math and cutting up a lot of wood to build a boat. *checks notes* Make that two boats.

His current focus is finishing the wooden sailboat that he is building from start to finish, entirely on his own, while the side project is the renovation of a Jon boat to a bass fishing boat.

“It’s kinda silly, but I really really like boats, it’s my kind of entertainment, it’s what I like,” Ingram said.

He began the sailboat project with an $800 wood using money he earned working at Neighbors Ice Cream shop in West Homewood, cutting his neighbors’ grass and selling his 3D print projects.

Then, Ingram spent all summer marking and cutting wood that would later be used to build the boat’s framework. In order to cut the wood correctly, Ingram had to calculate the measurements of each wood slab that would thereafter fit together perfectly and create the boat’s framing.

“All I did all summer was mark and cut pieces of wood,” Ingram said. “There was so much math involved to get the curves exact.”

Ingram used a variety of math to perform his calculations. He spent hours each day sitting at his desk completing calculations that would later be used in the cutting of the wood. He used trigonometry, volume and buoyancy calculations, linear algebra, calculus, topology and computational geometry in his calculations.

“When I would take breaks it was because my brain was hurting,” Ingram said.

The wood cutouts were not finished until the end of the summer. Recently, he has completed building the two-by-four frame that supports the boat’s external structure. He also positioned together hourglass wood cutouts and poured epoxy putty to seal the cracks.

As of now, Ingram is framing the bulkheads of the boat. He is working on the walls and completing the boat’s structural components. When completed, the boat will include a cabin with two beds. Along with comfortable sleeping arrangements, the boat will have a miniature kitchen with a built-in stove.

The self-constructed sailboat will be rather spacious and capable of holding 1200 lbs. Ingram’s goal is to have the ability for him and his friends to take the boat out on the weekends.

“I want to take my friends to Lake Guntersville on my boat and my dream is to sail around in the gulf,” Ingram said.

Along with the self-built sailboat, Ingram is working on restoring a Jon boat and transforming it into a bass boat. This undertaking is his side project, as his priority is on the sailboat.

Ingram acquired this Jon boat by trading HHS teacher Melissa Dameron-Vines’s husband six homemade fishing lures he made with his 3D printer.

Thus far, Ingram has pressure-washed, sanded and painted the boat. It is also now watertight. In order to turn the boat into a bass boat, he added a front and back casting deck. He has also ordered a motor and battery.

“The reason it is now a bass boat is because the decks are level with the top of the boat, so it is comfortable to fish on,” Ingram said.

While the sailboat is more of a hangout boat, this boat is for more practical use and fishing trips.

Both the sailboat construction and bass boat renovation are completed in Ingram’s driveway. He likes being able to work on the boats at any time during the day. The worksite being located at his house helps with convenience.

“The back of my driveway is a bit of a boatyard,” he said. “I have to clean it up every week to make sure it’s nice and neat.”

Patrick Ingram’s mother, Mary Liz Ingram, has been kicked out of her parking spot due to construction, but she is not bothered.

“I just tell him to keep living his dreams,” she said.

Ingram is also talented in 3D designs and 3D printing. He uses his art dexterities to make many 2D drawings that can eventually form a shape to be printed.

The 3D design and boat constructions have had crossover that have been beneficial in Ingram’s completion of the projects. He was able to learn from the 3D printer mathematics to help him navigate and calculate the boat cutouts.

“There is a lot of math involved in the drawings and curves for the 3D printer,” Ingram said. “It really contributed to the math involving the sailboat. It’s the same category of math.”

Ingram spends the majority of his free time working on his projects. He says he doesn’t like to be doing nothing because he feels bored and lazy. The boat and 3D printings fill his free time and satisfy him with tasks and goals to accomplish.

“He really spends any amount of free time he can,” Mary Liz Ingram said. ”Any time he’s free he is out there working on his boat.”

From a young age, Ingram’s family noticed his creativity. He has worked with many different mediums. He started working with construction paper when he was very young, later he moved on to cardboard and wood. Now, Ingram is skilled enough to work with metal and weld.

Ingram has learned how to combine his art skills and his mathematical talents.

“He has a lot of artistic creativity as well as an engineering mind and he puts them both together on the projects he creates,” Mary Liz Ingram said.