design for cedar strip

[ghstdanc]

I have an idea for a boat that I would like to build, similar to this http://www.evergladescanoecompany.com/index.php there are several fundamental changes I would like to make, I don't want to "knock off" this persons design. My question is, Is there a program, easy to use, that when I plug in my desired dimensions it will spit out a table of offsets or tell me what shape to cut out the station molds? I was thinking that for a one off boat the best building material, to achieve compound curves and a radius chine, would be cedar strip construction. thanks for any replies.


Scott

[Chris Ostlind]

Hi Scott,

A couple of ideas for you as I don't know how involved you would like to get with the porject other than obtaining forms and agetting after the stripping business.

This is a nicely thought-out piece of free software that might be able to get you to the place you want to go.

KayakFoundry by Ross Leidy at Blue Heron Kayaks

Google for it.

Kayak Foundry is primarily for drawing kayaks for strip building. It produces offsets for forms or outputs a set of forms for the hull, including the stems as necessary.

Other than that, Bearboat Pro can do the same job with a slightly different interface. It's also a kayak design tool primarily.

Rhino3D will do all that you need and a ton more, but it's not free at $795 retail. I use Rhino to design canoes, kayaks, monohulls, multihulls and power boats and it's equally adept at plywood style building as it is for smooth chined strip construction. It produces sections at the tap of the mouse and is very accurate.

Chris

[nero]

Look at using cypress instead of cedar. It is a lot cheaper. Slightly heavier , but harder and stronger. You can find it from .75 to 1.75 the bd ft. Much cheaper than WRC. Do not use anything thinner than 5/8 partical board or 1/2 B/C plywood for the forms. Screws will split it too easy. U.S. Composits has an excellent epoxy. It is the least expensive I have found. The thin epoxy with medium hardner works the best form me. I use TouchCad. It would do excellent lines. My forms came out perfect ... except for my jigsawing errors. But it would be overkill for a one time project. Perhaps you do not even need a marine design software? Anything with nurbs will give you the lines you want. A scale model will tell you how it floats.

good luck