Are there new ways of fairing

Having been in the shipbuilding industry for many years now
it seems that the fairing[boging] of large hulls is still done in the
same way regardless of the type of material used ie on alloy or steel hull constutions.
Has any one come across new methods of fairing, new machinery
or ways that it is done?
If you have seen any thing out there it would be great to hear your comments or idears thanks
shane

 

Computer software is the latest way to fair. most use a complicated math technique like spline curves.
These type of techniques are included in cad software like AUTOCAD which is very popular these days.

 

Any of the dedicated yacht design programs allow much faster fairing, much easier visualization, and three dimensional fairing than AutoCad. Unless a lot has changed between AutoCad 2002 and 2004. While it has basic spline curves, its fairing capability is very primitive and limited compared to the control you have in dedicated yacht & ship design programs...

 

Shane, the only changes I have seen in the past twenty years have been in the compounds used; epoxy-based compounds and glass microballoons as fillers seem to make the job faster and lighter due to quicker curing times and less dense compound. Other than that it still is an unpleasant, mostly manual job. But then, I'm the guy saying it has to be done, not the guy doing it, so my opinions can be viewed with healty scepticism.

 

I don't like computer fairing programs. They limit fairing to what a programmer, which usually is not a boatbuilder or designer. I prefer my battens, some 45' long, to get pretty and fair lines. As for the physical side of fairing, a quicker way of doing it, is to lay the compound with a notched trowel. You then sand the ridges and after fill the grooves. It cuts the amount of sanding by 50-70%.

 

May be not. I work with lines fairing software more them 10 years. (With NURBS surfaces not with lines). And I don't fill any problems. Surface just don't let you do stupid mistakes in the fairing process. You should have just some "special filling" of surface and good tools for shape control in your system. I didn't calculate how many ship I made for last 5 years. Something like 100 or more.