best book for introduction to naval architecture

[PI Design]

Definitely recommend PNA - expensive, but much much cheaper if you are a student member of SNAME I think. It covers virtually everyting you will do on your course. Rawson and Tupper is a cheaper book, good for basics but not as detailed as PNA. There's a myriad of more specialist books you could get, but I'd recommend just using your library as and when you need them, unless you develop a strong interest in a specific area.
There's also some pretty good stuff online (US Coastguard site, I think?) that covers NA101 very well.

[PI Design]

This is the site I was thinking of. They are the best on-line notes I know of. An excellent free resource. (US Naval Academy, not Coast Guard).

http://www.usna.edu/naoe/courses/en200.htm

See Course Notes listed down the right hand side.

[jehardiman]

Originally Posted by DanishBagger

Haha, Jehardiman, that statement puts your signature into context, methinks :–)

Yeah, I first realized it about 6 years into my career about 25 years ago. If you want to make money, being a NA is not it.

Q: How do you make a small fortune in boatbuilding?
A: Start with a large one.

Honestly, I can teach a high school grad to do all the plug-and-chug work for NAME in a month or two. And as this thread points out, there are book that you can look it all up in.....so why pay a NA?

Because when you're standing up in front of the principals who are fronting 300,000,000.00 dollars for a 4 ship build, you need someone who will be able to convince them that the vaporware ships will make 20.1 knots sea speed, not 19.8.

I truely believe the reasoned conviction in one's opinion is the prime trait for a successful Naval Architect.

[CaptScot]

There is also a book published by SNAME (Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers) called "Naval Architecture for Non-naval Architects" by Harry Benford (1991) 230 pgs. I forget the price but it wasn't much. A good overview by an engineer without getting into formulas and equations. Should be able to buy it via their website sname.org

[MikeJohns]

Originally Posted by jehardiman

.............
Honestly, I can teach a high school grad to do all the plug-and-chug work for NAME in a month or two. ...............

Iv'e got a work experience undergraduate who after 3 years of fluids was trying to do calculus this morining on a submerged object to work out its bouyancy (known volume) via pressure gradient analysis !!!! I asked if he'd heard of an emminently well known Greek gentleman

Sometimes the Proff courses get a little too carried away with heavy mathematical approaches and somehow skip the simple enlightenment that only comes from a good apprenticeship. Start with simple books... really simple books and work up .

[BankD]

Originally Posted by jehardiman

Are we talking about

a) Naval Engineering, i.e. the design and management of a ships propulsion and auxillary plant;

b) Naval Architecture, i.e. the theoritical design of complete ships and boats;

or c) Boat design, i.e. someones rambling opinion interspersed with vague mathamatical calculations and graphs of sometimes dubious worth?

I'm curious about "C"...are you referring to "Skene's", or to the coursework offered by a famous boat design school?

[jehardiman]

Originally Posted by BankD

I'm curious about "C"...are you referring to "Skene's", or to the coursework offered by a famous boat design school?

Actually, I'm refering to most books on boat design. Because a custom designed boat is as personal as the Naval Architect that designs it, everybody has thier own "method" and understanding of how things interplay. If you have five different designer write down how they go about designing a vessel, you will get five different tomes. To quote a well known author "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh".

BTW, Kinney's edit of Skene's has some very good data in it; especially if you want to build a rumrunner....Gin, in bottles, per case.......

[urungu]

i can give you a book link, if you want, i learnt every calculating thing about, tankers, containers on that. if you want say me, and i will ask to my prof teacher to give you them.

[mydauphin]

Originally Posted by jehardiman

a) Naval Engineering, i.e. the design and management of a ships propulsion and auxillary plant;

b) Naval Architecture, i.e. the theoritical design of complete ships and boats;

or c) Boat design, i.e. someones rambling opinion interspersed with vague mathamatical calculations and graphs of sometimes dubious worth?

If you ever want to hire any of them....

Put them in a small boat with a motor and see which one knows enough about boats to cross a large bay with currents, wind, and rocks. How many of them can dock a boat, or fix the engine, or set an anchor. How many have lived in a boat.

That is why there is so many bad boats. The designers/Architect/engineer know little about boating. Book knowledge doesn't teach the realities of the sea.

If you want to see if someone or a company is serious about boating look at their anchors and anchoring tackle. If it is something toy looking then chances are the rest of boat is built the same way.

I am neither of the above but I have had boat since I was 12, bought a few, built a few, sunk a few. The calculations are guideline, but it takes a lot of work,money and trial and error to come up with a successful design.

[MikeJohns]

Originally Posted by mydauphin

...................
Put them in a small boat with a motor and see which one knows enough about boats to cross a large bay with currents, wind, and rocks. How many of them can dock a boat, or fix the engine, or set an anchor. How many have lived in a boat.....................but it takes a lot of work,money and trial and error to come up with a successful design.

Yes seagoing experience is a very good attribute for any aspiring designer.

However don't knock the theory; the knowledge of naval architecture particulalrly for smaller vessels has progressed considerably over my lifetime and some of those books have some very practical advice on design.

Small boat design is all about trading compromises and experience gives you some strong opinions on just what compromises your client should accept.