Should amateurs design boats?

Nobody should design boats. There should be a law against it. Designing boats leads to madness, drinking and fornication.

 

And having fun !!

 

i don't design boats, i repair and modify my own boats because i do not have the time or patience to start from scratch. i do admire people who design and build boats pro or not. but i do think pro's are more important than ever with the new the materials and drive options etc: that are available. the professional has the time and tools at his disposal that the amatuer does not. most boats were very similar untill cad came along. i think if you build off plans you are getting a proven vessel with resale value. why bother designing when there are so many good plans to choose from.

 

I always wanted to be a boat designer but there was always a brick wall infront of me , wife kids school house and all those things then when i had all the materials a fibregall boat cam along so sold all the stuff and concentrated on the glass boat the travel overseas and work outside the country then home and wife saw greener grass so i was alone . later number 2 wife and anther family and eventually that fell apart so i have a shed ful of tools a car and a boat but live 10,000 away and only get to use any of it for 10 days each year . rest of my timme baking other peoples dreams . i hope all this is about to change as soon as this company where i work now closes down and i am asked to pack my bags and go . i know how to make boats go what to do and how to do it , can look at a boat and tell how it behaves before it hits the water . can look at boats underway and know whats wrong and how to fix . but im a paper and pencil designer cad is to slow and cant think . oh sure makes pretty pictures but dosent know i have sugar with my coffee ! there 10 ways of drawing a curved line and finding that one could take all day ! 2 minuts with a pencil and bendy plastic ruler and its done and perfectly fair !!
Even one of the very best yacht designers mr LAURIE DAVIDSON Always had the plans printed full size and then did the final fairing by hand and by eye, and he was in the americas cup design team for a number of years

 

There was a story that the first man drew the boat lines on an animal skin. The second man stretched the skin and called it his own boat. The third man copied it and stretched it another way and called it his own, and so on and so forth.

Then a new breed was born, called himself Naval Architect. Drew the design on rubber skin, and collected all the old drawings. When someone ask him to design a boat, he would stretch the drawing in so many direction until the client is satisfied. Having done that, he would check if the "new" stretched design "fits" the old drawings. If so, he proceeds.