Yacht Design correspondence course??

Could anybody tell me of any Yacht/powerboat design correspondence courses? I have always wanted to do it, but am not able to atually attend a college. I know of the westlawn school, but does anybody know any others that are any good. Any help towards acheiving my dream will be appreciated...

[Jeff]

Have you already looked at the Macnaugton Yacht Design School as well?

You will find this thread by ErikG quite interesting:
http://forums.boatdesign.net/showthr...=&threadid=535

Thanks for the info Jeff. I think I will seriously consider the YDS course.

[Jeff]

I should note that I don't have any personal experience with the YDS course, so it's not necessarily a recommendation, just another course you should definitely look into. If I had to make a decision myself at this very moment, I would probably take Will's point of view and choose Westlawn because I have a lot more information about Westlawn and have heard and seen the work from more current and past Westlawn students.

But I do very much respect Erik's thoughts and was happy that he posted his initial experience with the YDS course and I will be eager to hear more as he progresses through the YDS course.

BTW, if you don’t mind me asking, how about telling us more about your dream. What kind of boats do you want to design? Traditional or hi-tech? One-off or production?

What I would love to do is custom designs, one-off's. Modern boats in the classical wooden speedboat style (like the old italian classics) But to be honest, I am interested in any type of boat and particularly in changing the contexts. e.g. A personal pleasure yacht heavily influenced by the styling of a workboat. Obviousle there would be design issues th overcome, but I feel it makes for and interesting experiment.???

P.S I have had a look at the web site for YDS and it does look to be what I am looking for. I haven't got a lot of money to put into this initially, and this way I can pay for aech lesson one by one. Also, if it doesn't come up to scratch, I can stop and, as long as I havn't been marked yet, get a refund. On the site they mention Westlawn, and basically say that it is down to pewrsonal preference. They imply that the westlawn school is more theory based than their course which focuses a lot on drawing and judgement, I think that might suit me better, I am more of a practical person.

[ErikG]

As stated here : http://forums.boatdesign.net/showthr...=&threadid=535
I had my own reasons for choosing YDS, economics being the greatest.

If I could I'd really would like to go to all three courses at the Landing School but having a family and being Swedish doesn't make it that easy...

Good luck!

ErikG

If like me , you are on a budget, are you also finding it difficult to find the cash for some of the more expensive pieces of equiptment, especially the spline weights. When you add all this up, it doesn't look quite as cheap does it?

[ErikG]

Well "guest" I'm making my own weights but yes with all the required equipment and drawing material and not to forget the books, it all adds up pretty quickly. Especially in the beginning.

I suggest you make your own "ducks" and skip a proper drawingtable to begin with, you might not need it at all. Ideally I'd like a table that I can raise and lower easily since I like to draw standing as well.

Well at the moment the sailing season is on so the education is on hold for the moment but soon enough I'll get going again...

Please do register and continue to contribute and pester with questions as the rest of us all do :-)

ErikG

[Jeff]

I've often discovered the same thing, but it's just the way it is I'm afraid. As Erik said, I still remember a professor telling us what a great value one text book was that we had to buy for $160. In addition to drawing supplies, textbooks, vellum, etc. will all add up. If you build a model, there's another hundred in supplies. If you start drawing in CAD, you will find yourself having to budget for hardware and software upgrades every couple or few years as new features come out that you ‘need’ to have. Then you will find yourself wanting a plotter of your own, adding another $2000-3000 (unless you happen to live where you can get large size output from a commercial service without too much trouble and delay.)

Of course, if you look at other things, for example buying a boat, it’s no different. After buying your first boat you then find that you need to pay for your slip, storage, hauling or trailer, maintenance and maintenance supplies, fuel if you want to go anywhere and dock fees when you get there, oil, lines, parts, electronics, paint …. Then when you go to paint you find that you not only have to pay for the paint but also brushes, rollers, masking tape, masks or respirators, a place to paint it and maybe hauling fees, etc. etc.

But you’ll get through it. One advantage of a correspondence course at least is that you have a little more time so you can shop around for good values rather than needing supplies immediately and having to pay retail.

P.S. I’ll be moving this thread to the Education Forum tomorrow which is a better place for it; if you have a second please register too – you only have to fill out the top 5 lines if you like and don’t need to submit any personal information if you don’t want to. That way we’ll have a name (or a nickname) to go with the post when replying

[Chris F]

I was most interested in the range of responses about available yacht design courses. I have been deliberating for a considerable time about whether I should enrol in Westlawn or YDS.

Yesterday I "bit the bullet"and enrolled in the YDS course - the main reason being the large financial outlay required by Westlawn (especially when considering the Aussie dollar exchange rate!) and the fact that the YDS modules were smaller "bite size pieces"which will allow me to see if this course is what I envisage it will be, and secondly if I can master the drawing skills required! (my qualifications are non-technical in nature)

Anyway, I will post my views as I get the material and progress through the modules!

Maybe Erik could help with this. It stated that for the YDS course fist lesson, you require the #109 Copenhagen ship's curve. Does it have to be this specific curve, or will any large ships curve purchased from somewhere else do just as well?

[Damian]

By the way, I have now registered, so there you go

[ErikG]

Hi guest err... Damian

I believe that you are best off when it comes to the course to use the curves specified. If you really are on a tight budget I'd suggest just buying the 109 and then look elswhere for the rest. I'm currrently saving up for the full monty (all the curves) even though I really can't afford it...

But there are a number of options if you really can't afford it.
"Bendable" rulers, any other curved shape you find useful.
One option would be to recreate ( not copy 'cause that's theft) but create your own curve shapes on the computer and have someone mill them out for you.

Good luck

Erik

[Damian]

Thanks for that Erik. Do you happen to know rougly how much extra it is to get the curve shiped to Europe?