Yacht Design Career

[stubby]

Hi all,

I want to start a career in yacht design. I am currently completing High School, and am planing do do a degree of Naval Architecture, so I guess I am wondering about what path I should to take to become a yacht designer.

Jordan

[awermedia]

being yacht designer is the 1 of the most interesting job nowadays.But there is no doubt that it requires some neccesity.u have to good maths basis and need 2 know cad program and at least 1 design programme like 3ds max or rhinoceros or any .and the most important is imagine

[Wayne Grabow]

Talk to your nearest naval architecture school and tell them of your ambitions. Ask them where do their graduates go, what jobs are available, what level of income can be expected, what path of advancement can be followed.

I asked these questions many years ago at the Univ. of Calif. naval architecture program here in the U.S. They gave me straight answers. They told me that the U.S. is a "backwater" for naval architecture; that the best prospects were in the mechanical systems of ships: propulsion, ventilation, plumbing, etc. They said that pleasure yacht design is an uncertain future.

I appreciated their advice and have had no regrets on my subsequent career choices. So also you should have accurate information on what you are facing. I don't know what the current prospects are in your area. Perhaps some of the experts on this forum will add their experience.

[CTMD]

Jordon,

where in Aus are you located?

The are a range "Yacht Designers" in Australia and their qualifications vary from experianced boat builders through architectual drafts people, industrial designers to Naval Architects.

When you say you want to be a Yacht designer what do you mean?
Do You...
want to design sailing boats?
want to design power boats?
want to design primarily pleasure boats?
want to concentrate mainly on styling and let someone else make it work?
want to design boats in general?

Your answer to the above has a big effect on the educational direction you should follow. The obvious option is to study Naval Architecture. You can do this at either UNSW (Sydney) or AMC (Launceston, Tas). Both are good schools and employers seem to weigh them equally when putting on staff.

If you want to get into race boats the alternate (and possibly faster path) is to study materials engineering, with a focus on composites. When you graduate spend some time with Gurit, High Mod etc as part of their in house engineering team. A lot of people who do this end up being picked up by a design house after working closely with them on a couple of projects (this path is also possible with an NA degree).

Good luck.

[stubby]

Hi,

I am based in Melbourne, I want to go to AMC and design racing yachts, I want to be able to have a good career in yacht design and maybe design some boats for myself to race around the world in. I have experience with some boat design software, as i use delftshipfree to design some model boats for myself, and to fiddle around with to try and replicate some of the Americas cup boats.

Jordan

[stubby]

I also have looked at the Farr design site and looked at the qualifications of the different people, and I saw that about half of them have degrees in naval architecture, so i am thinking the AMC would be the right path, but am open to suggestions as im only 15 and all of you guys would know more than me.

[CTMD]

Stubby,

where in Melbourne are you located and how old are you? I'd be happy to get together and have a chat over lunch at some stage and see if we could work out some mentoring / work experience. If you really want to get into race yacht design I'd recommend talking to Mel Hart or Steve Campbell about doing some hands on composite boat building experience.

While its not want you want do do in particular, Plate Alloy Australia in Cheltenham runs an 8 week (Saturday morning) aluminium boat building course which would be very beneficial to have done before you go to uni.

Also I'm not sure if AMC has an equivalent, but UNSW has one subject taken in 4th year specifically about yacht design, IIRC, the lecturer is David Lyons (you couldn't get a better person in Aus). The class didn't exist back when I was at UNSW, I wish it did.

edit, just had a look AMC does have an equivalent, not sure who the teacher is.

[stubby]

Hi,

I am located in Frankston, and i am 15, I have looked at trying to get some sort of job at a boat builder to get some experience, but have not found anywhere, I also want to be a professional sailor which I think would help with yacht design as I could see what different things do to a hull. I also build my own r/c boats and have designed a few.

Jordan

[CTMD]

Don't ask for a job, ask for work experiance ie tell them straight out you don't expect to get paid. Think of it as an investment in your own future. If you do a good job you might even get offered some part time work down the track.

Other posters here will probably agree, as a design office you get heaps of cold call emails looking for work. The ones in print and keep are the ones who have not only gone to uni but also have a range of hands on experiance. In an ideal world by the time you graduate (Approx 7 years away) you want to be able to show you've build:

Production glass boats,
custom glass boats,
Aluminium boats,
steel boats (less important),
and if it can be arranged spent some time with a sail maker.

Hands on time is far more usefull at this stage that sitting in a design office.

As you obviously sail, get out of the one design classes and into a development class (IC, Moth, A cat, 12' skiff etc) something where you can experiment and try your own ideas.