recommend me a loftsman

A very experienced, highly respected naval architect visits the yard building his latest design and he is shown the lofting.

"A very good job, nice looking boat. Who designed it?"

 

Been there, though I was being my typical sarcastic self, I did have to sort through all the subtle changes and get reality checked with the loftsman.

 

due respect, but now im even more confused..theres naval architechts ,designers & loftsmen .. in trying to figure out the differences over the years I`ve come to the conclusion that a designer may draw a concept ...then hand it over to a naval architect who would take that concept & engineer it to float /perform, to what the designer would like it to do or be & then it would go to a loftsman in the form of port & stbd. side view , top view & view from forward & aft & interior view from deck elevations...am I feet off the mark,or miles ?

 

Yep, way off the mark (miles) Peter.

A designer may work with a NA, but often doesn't and generates the full set of plans, including construction details, lines, etc.

The lines are drawn at scale, simply to make printing them practical. The lines, as drawn my the designer or NA are set in stone. All the hydrostatic and dynamic information about the design is governed by the choices made, while developing the lines. Any changes to these lines on the loft floor, will toss all the calculations out the window and you don't really know what you'll end up with.

The loftsmen's job is to draw the lines full size, possibly correcting any mistakes found (yep this happens to the best). The finished lofting is then considered the bible in regard to the shapes that will be employed in the build. Templates, angles, bevels, etc. will be picked up directly from the lofting.

Don't get me wrong, a skilled and experienced loftsmen can and might make alterations to a set of lines, but it will only be because of some prior experience with the hull form. For example I watch a guy flattening out the aft rocker on a Cape Cod cat boat, years ago. He said the two previous builds squatted in the stern a little bit more than desirable in local races, so the aft buttocks were being "modified" to address this issue. The designer was aware of the change and in fact discussed it with the loftmen and other staff, to come up with a good solution.

With modern yacht design, lofting isn't as common as was previously, though I'm still a strong advocate of lofting, because it makes a builder intimately aware of the shapes used. Modern computer generated plans can be printed full size, which takes the speculation, lack of true hydro understanding and indifference of the loftsmen out of the loop. This is a good thing, except for the loftsmen of the world.

 

understood !...see .. this boatbuilding stuffs getting easier by the day already!!.. I went down to boston harbor today ,as I do a good bit ,to look at boats & I saw a tunnel hull, (weaving around every sailboat in the world) you mentioned that you designed one & I assume you mentioned it because you thought it may suit my needs ? a 33`6 if I remember ? 90 mph capabilities... it caught my attention... is that a possibility for an aluminum conversion ?...it looks a bit more stable than a monohull & may be a soloution for me ? any thoughts ?

 

Yes, my 33' 6" tunnel would suit your needs, as little as I know of them at this point. She's a little more stable than a V of similar configuration, in certain conditions. My design calls for twin Mercruiser 305's or 350's through Alphas. The engine choices are 4V carb or EFI. The Vortec EFI engines are more reliable and offer more performance improvements, though you can install Vortec heads on the carb versions (with an intake change) and get a quick 20 - 30 HP increase. Considering the performance envelop for this boat, you can toss a fair bit of power at it, but getting much more speed will be expensive, besides it'll run in the holly grail range anyway. Yes, she can be converted to aluminum construction.