3rd.yr. Mech. Eng. student looking for advice

Hi to all. I'm a 3rd year Mechanical Engineering student at Ryerson University(Toronto,Canada) looking to make a future in boat design,and more specifically in sailboat design. I'm just looking for some advice in terms of things I can do in order to increase my chances in finding employment after university.

As well, I'm wondering what specific CAD/CAM software is being used in the industry. I'm currently using Catia, and I'm somewhat familiar with AutoCAD. Are any of these sufficient?

Thanks,

Artur

 

AutoCAD tends to dominate, because it is generally cheaper than Catia. Rhino is a good add-in, and you will need a specialized surface definition program (Rhino is a general purpose surface definition proram, but other ship-specific packages are also popular, like Nautilus, Fastship, Multi-surf). I use ShipConstructor. It includes a lot of ship design specific functions as well.

Note though the numerous cautions about making a living in yacht design, especially sailing yacht design.