Can FreeShip give me horizontal slices?

[alexlebrit]

Originally Posted by bhnautika

Alexlebrit you seem to be confusing vector lines produced by CAD and raster used by graphic programmes. Take the lines you want out of freeship in DXF format and import them into any CAD. From there you can get any measurement you want to whatever accuracy you want.

Who knows? I know I certainly don't understand any of that, I'm afraid. I've managed to do what I wanted to do using just FreeShip, pdf 995 and Photoshop. FreeChip's multiple waterlines gave me the horizontal slices and the ability to print at whatever scale I wanted. Pdf995 pretends it's a printer and converts what would be the printed page into a .pdf file at whatever scale you previously selected. PhotoShop will open that and you can slowly and carefully delete the lines you don't want. In fact if you were using this on a 1:1 scale, you wouldn't have to go through Photoshop, the lines would be far enough apart not to be confusing.

Nero, i certainly will post piccies. I actually took them with my good old 35mm SLR and a 200mm zoom as that way playing about a bit it's possible to make the model floating gently on the local millpond look almost like it's full size (apart from the one with the duck in). The foam I used was 4mm thick paper backed foam, it's the type of thing PR people use to make pretty displays with. The real thing will use 40mm thick foam, used for insulation. Because the boat is a basically a large (semi) sit on top kayak, 6m long, by 1m wide and has a hull height oh about 40 cms, I wont need huge amounts of foam, and there'll be lots of off cuts from the larger bits which I can use lower down the hull. The superstructure itself will be just tortured PVC sheet, which when heated with a hot air paint stripper is possible to shape into gentle compound curves. Touch wood she'll look like this.

[nero]

That is smoking! How are you planning to power it? Where are you going to use it? Transat?

Keep us up to date on your progress please. The boat/float/avec canard pict would be cool to post.

[alexlebrit]

Haha, transat? Nooooo more like Trans-Bretagne. For the ten years I've lived in France I've always fancied navigating the former Nantes-Brest canal. Depending on who you believe it's between 360-400 kms long, and has 283 locks!! Unfortunately it fell into disusue in the 1930's when they built a hydro-electric barrage across one of the valleys, effectively cutting the canal in two. Since then some of the locks have been sealed up, some have been fitted with kayak-slides, and some you just have to portage round.

I started off with the idea of just a longer wider kayak, something I could if I wanted to pop a one man tent on. Then the sun came out and I thought I'd need some form of canopy to keep the sun off my head. Then it poured with rain solidly for a week, with thunderstorms and I thought maybe some form of proper cockpit to keep the rain off, and then I thought "well if I'm having a cockpit I'll have a rear cabin too." And finally I decided I'd use the trip to raise money for charity, so in the interests of plugging the trip in the media, I thought it ought to look eye-catching.

So it ended up like that. I might even attempt to replicate the zebra stripes, because I think they look very cool.

So sorry to disappoint no trans-atlantic trips for me. But if she performs well on the Nantes-Brest I might take her up the Loire, and then dogleg onto the other canals till eventually I end up on the Mediteranian. That'd be a trip!!

Oh and power? Well my legs of course, none of this internal combustion for me, just a bloke, a set of pedals and decent French food.

[nero]

When you make it down to Marseille, look me up.

How thick is the foam core going to be? What is the total weight?

As long as you are staying off the sea, I guess the paint design would be great. If you do venture on to the sea all that red may act as a big squid lure! smile