Design your own boat but how?

[sele]

I want to learn how to design boats , motoryachts , sailboats or rigid inflatable boats and would like to know about the designing programs that are not very complicated and not professional. I want to have an idea about the yacht design, so if somebody suggests a program I would be really happy.

[pistnbroke]

The simple way in is Carene software ...... Then go to Freeship not delftship

[TeddyDiver]

You have a lot of questions sele.. A program doesn't give you any idea nor teach you anything about boat design. Best you start with some basic books of the subject so you get some fundamentals..
Understanding boat design by Ted Brewer is good to start with. Next something more detailed like Elements of yacht design by Skene

[sele]

I think I'm going to have a look at "Understanding Boat Design".

[ACuttle]

This is something that a lot of people ask, software is only ever a tool towards the end design. No software will do the design for you, you'll need to have a good understanding of what is involved.

Designing sail boats and motor boats have very different elements and requirements which is why you have Naval Architects and designers. It isn't impossible to do on your own but it is hard and one needs to be very aware of what you know and (more importantly) don't know.

As you've said, follow Teddy's advice, do some reading and work out what questions you actually need to ask. People often think that designing a boat is simple but few would ask 'how do I design a car/plane/powerstation...' as a single question.

Keep the enthusiasm and gain some knowledge – it pays to ask questions with a better answer:
How do I begin developing lines for a design?
What software is easy to pick up for a beginner? (when they have already have the understanding of basic principles)
etc.

I wouldn’t want put anyone off, but if you could answer this question in a forum post I wouldn’t have spent 10 years in industry & 4 years at university – and still be learning on a daily basis.

[sele]

Thanks for your advice it's very helpful for me.

[sele]

It writes that you are a marine design engineer.Those three words are exactly the right words for my future education.I am a student and I think it's really important to take an early action for the university but there are so many terms about that subject like marine or ocean engineering,naval architecture , yacht design etc.

I don't know which one is correct for me: as I said I'd like to design marine vehicles using the creativity and mechanics;I think the mechanical part is the engineering part and the creative part is the designer part but I am really confused about this subject for that if you can write the differences between those terms and if you explain your job as a marine design engineer that would be really helpful for my education.

[sele]

I think I have to change my questions . It's true that there isn't a single answer to the question "how I design a yacht".I have to study this topic and your comments are really helpful because I understood that Naval Arhitecture is not the section that I want . Marine Engineering and Naval Engineering and yacht design can be the answer but I need a lot of more information about those. If you give more informations about these two topics I will be really happy for exemple what a Marine Design Engineer do?

[PAR]

The fastest and most comprehensive method to get what you want Sele, is to take a course. WestLawn.org would be the obvious recommendation considering the alternatives. The alternatives are a full blown NA course at an accredited collage or university. Also you could attempt to learn on your own with books, but without guidance, which books do you read, which subjects do you study and other problems arise and generally, learning on your own requires many years of study, especially if you have no industry experience.

[Steve W]

As Par said, taking a course would be the best way in, something like the course by the Landing school would be great as it focuses on small craft design, however since you are in Turkey an online study course like Westlawn makes the most sense i think.
Steve.

[alanrockwood]

Sele,

Virginia Polytechnic Institute has an accredited correspondence course in Naval Architecture. (They call it Ocean Engineering, but their program seems to emphasize ship design, i.e. classical naval architecture.) The catch is that it is a Master Degree program, so you already need a college degree to enroll in the program, preferably an engineering degree.

However, based on your first post, along with the other posts in this thread, Westlawn might be a good program for you, since you did not request a program that leads to a degree.

[ACuttle]

It's very unlikely that you'll need to look outside your own country for a course.

A quick google brought up a reference for the Naval Architecture Faculty at ITU:
http://www.euromar-bridges.eu/index.php?id=itu

A look around (and in your own language) will likely find you more options in no time.

---
To answer another of your questions I'll cover things as best I can.
I worked in the boat building industry as a draughtsman, from that I trained as a naval architect at a British University, so I have a Master Degree in Naval Architecture and small craft design. I tend to be called a design engineer rather than a naval architect as I focus on structural design and I don't have much to do with stability or hydrodynamics. I am also a member of RINA:
http://www.rina.org.uk/
If I remember they have some advice for people looking to get into the field on the website.

If you want a breakdown on my job title:
Marine - I work within the marine field
Design - I'm a designer (as opposed to a process or project worker)
Engineer - I'm an engineer so I focus on the engineered elements of a vessel
I work within a small yard so I have a complete remit over my project role and work either alone within a team of other specialist to cover all areas of the vessel. My job is to produce working structural hulls and structures that can be fitted out with machinary etc. to make a complete boat.

Naval Architects are very similar, though their work covers more areas and in a large organisation will focus mostly on the areas of Hydrodynamics, Stability & overall design, whilst a structural design engineer would produce the detailed structural elements. Though this is pretty general and would depend on the organisation. Most of these engineers (to some degree) can do the jobs of the other.
---
What are you currently studying and what direction are you thinking of taking things with your career?
Do you just want to design one boat or make a life out of it?

[sele]

I would want to go to a collage in my country and I'm going to make a reserch about ITU and it can be a good choice . But I also want to have some ideas about the other collages in the world because there are a lot more choices.

And for the last question: I'm a high school student and in 3 years I'm going to be graduated.I'm very interested in all the marine vessels lile Ribs, sailboats, catamarans , motorboats . I really like the mechanical and the calculus parts and I really want to design one of those that's why I'm interested in those two keywords:engineer and designer . But I know that what I want is not very clear because I have to learn those general terms like you explained in this thread and they are very helpful and I'm going to read those books as you said. But I have to say that it's not just a future job for me because I really like those vessels and I want it to become my life style that means I don't just want to design boat I want to make a life out of it.

[ACuttle]

That's pretty common - in my experience most Naval Architects sail, own some kind of boat or come from marine background.

Obviously if you just wanted to design a single vessel doing a degree wouldn't be a very cost effective choice. Having a career in the marine industry can be very rewarding, you tend to be far move involved with your projects than other engineering disciplines (especially in small craft work). Several of my lecturers were Turkish so you should find plent of experienced people there.

If you're still at school you would want to focus on physics & mechanical maths - craft or workshop (metal or wood working etc.) education can also be a great advantage for a prospective engineer. The books that have been listed might be a bit daunting at first, especially if the calculations involved use maths that you haven't covered yet in school so it may be a gradual process working through them.

If you want to get started early, you could look at model building, there you can try out ideas and work out the basic concepts in a hands on manner without so much of the financial or workspace requirements of designing/building a full boat.