3rd.yr. Mech. Eng. student looking for advice

[Artur]

Hi to all. I'm a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student at Ryerson University(Toronto,Canada) looking to make a future in boat design,and more specifically in sailboat design. I'm just looking for some advice in terms of things I can do in order to increase my chances in finding employment after university.

As well, I'm wondering what specific CAD/CAM software is being used in the industry. I'm currently using Catia, and I'm somewhat familiar with AutoCAD. Are any of these sufficient?

Thanks,

Artur

[CDBarry]

AutoCAD tends to dominate, because it is generally cheaper than Catia. Rhino is a good add-in, and you will need a specialized surface definition program (Rhino is a general purpose surface definition proram, but other ship-specific packages are also popular, like Nautilus, Fastship, Multi-surf). I use ShipConstructor. It includes a lot of ship design specific functions as well.

Note though the numerous cautions about making a living in yacht design, especially sailing yacht design.