Marine Technology

[elcapitan]

im 15 from nc and am in great desire to work in the boat building industry. ultimately i want to own my own company and build offshore center consoles, and pleasure boats. i want to take some classes on engine repair, fiberglass systems, marine electrical, the works. though im only 15 i want to get some expieriance and knowledge of everything. i want to start early basically because there is so much that is needed to be learned, and i want to learn as much as as i can. does anyone know of any classes or even books on the subject? anything to help me out and further my knowing on the subject.

[jehardiman]

While it is a drive, Cape Fear CC in Wilmington has a Marine Tech program. There are also by-mail schools out there, such as YDS and Westlawn. AS for what to read, start with the basics, and some I'm going to list will seem very dated in these days of carbon fiber and water jets, but a lot of modern references assume you already understand all the terms and reasons for doing things.

Start with Skene's Elements of Yacht Design (get the new 2001 edition) or Designing Power and Sail by Edmunds. Both are basic texts that covers it all at a fairly modest level and cost. Some people like Larsson & Eliasson Principles of Yacht Design but I'm not so sure about it.

Boatbuilding and Yacht Designing and Planning by Chapelle. I'm going to catch some flack for listing these dated tomes, but "you don't know where you're going unless you know where you've been". Also helpful for explaing boat specific termonology, how to layout lines, and sequence design/construction.

For actual sport powerboat design, the picking get a little slim. There is a lot of trial and error in small craft design and most of the companies that develop hull forms keep that data very close. So try to get the Savitsky paper "Hydrodynamic Design of Planing Hulls," from Marine Technology 1964 (actually get everything by Savitsky and Yeh, they laid the foundation for most modern works on the subject). Reading this provides more insight than alot of the "condnsed" versions given by other authors. There is also Peter du Cane's High Speed Small Craft and Lord's Naval Architecture of Planing Hulls; both are out of print and a little dated, but good for the basics of offshore high speed design.