Powerboat design book

[JordieS]

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering what is a good book about designing boats, powerboats in general, both displacement and planing.

I have heard that Principals of Yacht Design by Lars Larsson and Rolf Eliasson is good but it mainly focuses on sailboats. Is this ok still, also on Amazon it says that the new version has a section about powerboats in it. Has anyone had experience with this book?

Thanks

[DCockey]

I have the third edition, 2007, which appears to be the current edition. It has a chapter on High Speed Hydrodynamics which provides an overview of planing hull resistance and trim calculations plus brief discussions of hull features, dynamic stability and alternatives to conventional propellers. Though the theme of the book is sailing yacht design most of the material is directly applicable to power boat design including the chapters on:

Design Methodology
Preliminary Considerations
Hull Geometery
Hydrostatics and Stability
Hull Design
Propeller and Engine
High Speed Hydrodynamics
Hull Construction
Materials
Scantling Determination
Layout

and portions of the chapters on:

Keel and Rudder Design
Design Evaluation

The book does a good job of covering the technical aspects without using calculus, though it is not always completely obvious when approximations are being used. A nice feature is that calculations are shown.

I don't know of an equivalent book devoted to powerboat design.

[JordieS]

Thank you,

I will probably look into buying this book.

[PAR]

$32.64 at the BoatDesign book store . . . Once you get through it, most of your previous questions will be moot.

[JordieS]

Thanks alot guys. It is appreciated.

[FAST FRED]

The hardest problem for most "High Speed" boats seems to be crew survival .

Coast Guard and Navy kids can take 6+G loading for a few hours , hard to rationalize in a private boat.

FF

[jehardiman]

For planing power boat design the book you really should read is High Speed Small Craft (ISBN 1-8286-0065-1) by Peter Du Cane. Hard to find, but worth it.

[Ike]

Jehardiman is right. My copy of Du Cane was stolen when I took it to work. But if you can find one it's very good.

[DCockey]

Du Cane's High Speed Small Craft has a lot of excellent information, though some of the descriptions of systems may be a bit out of date. I wouldn't recommend it though as a first text for someone interested in learning about the fundamentals of boat design.