3d boat design software

any suggestions on the best 3d boat design software? thanks

 

I like Rhino 3D but there are a number of possibilities.

What do you want to use the software for?

Any boat design experience?

Any CAD experience?

How much are you willing to spend or are you only interested in free software?

 

id like to get the feel for designing hulls and decks, ive no boat design expereince, nor cad

 

Davids suggestion of using Rhino is probably still the soundest one. There are a few 'free' cad packages, but you will go mad trying to make them work, and eventually throw them away. If you are serious, spend the $1000+ plus, and get a valuable tool for life at the best price. You will still do a lot of hair tearing, but it will be with the knowledge that it wont be a wasted exercise in learning a powerfull and usefull product.

Even if you never design a boat that you build, its a tool that will enable you to design hundreds of projects over the years and save you a lot of time and money.

 

I was able to download the rhino 3d for 90 days for free so I'll have a go at learning the tools. Sound advice lads thanks

 

Modeling and design software doesn't do much, except provide a some tools for an engineer to employ, as they make decisions about requirement goals.

In other words, you can draw up a really pretty boat looking image, but the software isn't going to tell you if it's well suited for what you might want, the sea conditions it might encounter, if it'll be safe in a storm, etc. There's no way of avoiding the prerequisite knowledge of yacht design, engineering and general understanding of the principles and physics involved. For a simple 3 meter skiff, you'll probably muddle though well enough to not drown yourself on launch day, but if the boat you want is going to need to hit some specific goals, maybe some efficiency or speed requirements, you'll have to do some studying.