Design Possibilities

[mackid068]

Ok folks, I've got a design issue:

I have a plan in mind for a full keel displacement pilothouse vessel with an enclosed space along the lines of the boat below, albiet with more seating around the vessel's deck.

http://maritimeskiff.com/images/voyager01.jpg

This vessel would have an inboard engine with a propeller placed in the keel, of course.

Problem is, I have no proper software and lack the skills to use said software. What should I do?

[marshmat]

I'm not going to say pirate the software, because that would be wrong.....

Of course, pretty much all boats until the last decade or two were designed entirely by hand, on paper. Those techniques are still valid and work fine.

You may be able to find an existing hull and add your ideas to it. Or you could draw out your ideas to the best of your ability and hire an engineer to turn your sketches into working plans. Or (my favourite option) you could take some courses, read some books, befriend some experts and learn the skills yourself. You're never too old to learn, all you need is a bit of patience.....

[mackid068]

Pirating is something I'm not gonna do :( unfortunately...

But I'll try paper design, see how it works out and I'll then post my designs. If anyone wants to go over them or wouldn't mind CADing them out, please do when I post them.

[SeaDrive]

You can always try to find some free software:
http://homepages.ipact.nl/~martijn/links.html

[Baldur]

I love to model boats on the computer. To me it's kinda like building balsa wood models only without the mess. I can help you CAD, as long as you have some dimensioned lines or offsets.

Drop me an e-mail at:

virtualsailor@gmail.com