Marine Design Software for Hull Modeling

[WarthogARJ]

Thanks, good points.
And I misread his question in any case, I missed the point he's asking about the actual drawings in trhe Gallery section, and not specifically about DESIGN a boat per se.

It obviously depends on your objectives, but I see the hydrodynamics as one of the most interesting aspects of being an amateur/solo designer (as in not trying to do it for a living, and not working in a company).
You don't HAVE to be a CFD specialist to do reasonable work.
Although by "reasonable", I mean you would need a pretty strong technical background, and to understand the hydrodynamics involved.

Sure, if you don't have that, and aren't that interested in attaining it, you could have someone else to do it for you.
And copying an existing hull design (assuming they did it right themselves!).

Or else if you're not too concerned with an optimal hydrodynamics design, you can revert to one of the empirical procedures that were used before CFD became so available.

But to do CFD you don't need a high end CAD package, and any high end package will in any case be able to create and export something you can use as a mesh in a stand-alone CFD package.
Like with openFoam, which is open-source, you can create your own mesh in it.
And export it to CAD packages when needed.
OpenFOAM v6 User Guide: 5.5 Mesh conversion https://cfd.direct/openfoam/user-guide/v6-mesh-conversion/

I'd be very surprised if that's not possible in any CAD/design package you've want to use in actually designing a boat.
Here's a good description of CFD packages:
"CFD software packages fall into one of the following four categories, more-or-less: CAD Embedded, Open-Source, Semi-Comprehensive (often for with niche specializations), and Comprehensive."
A Comparison of CFD Software Packages — Resolved Analytics https://www.resolvedanalytics.com/theflux/comparing-cfd-software

AutoDesk CFD is what you'd use if you wanted an integrated package with CAD in the AutoDesk system where fusion 360 lives (and is no longer free, just trial for a year for non-commerical use).
But it's NOT opensource...:-}

Ansys has Fluent, and SolidWorks has "Flow Simulation".

In any case, once you got an initial hull design, you could then go onto see if it met your other objectives.
If not, go back and adjust things and run through the CFD again.

 

[Dejay]

Have you worked with openFoam? I might give it a try but it's rather involved. I agree that anyone could learn how to do it, plenty of tutorials and learning material, but it's not simple and takes time.

So I'm a novice / amateur so from what I've found so far you have different areas:

1. Hydrostatics / stability can be done relatively easily e.g. delftship or you could write an addon or do by hand.
   
2. Resistance estimation for me is critical because I want to design a solar powered boat. Best I've found is michlet and prelimina.com (no trimarans). OpenFoam would give you the best answer and yeah you can export a mesh from any software so you're free to choose any design software.
   
3. Structural engineering... well I still have to learn that. I think you can do much of it yourself but if you really want to optimize you need FEA software that has support of anisotropic materials and you really need to know what you're doing.
   
4. Then sailboat design becomes even more tricky. There are many more factors to balance that require experience. Basically forget about designing a larger sailboat or ocean going cruiser as an amateur.
   
5. Seakeeping simulation I think is then another whole field. I don't think you can reasonably do it even with openFoam because you'd want to simulate how the boat reacts to different wave and wind interactions. Theoretically you could do it and render lots of films and extract acceleration curves and is probably done for high end boats, but this is going to become complex. I assume ship design software has simplified and faster simulations for this and you don't need CFD.
6. Tank testing / testing scale model in a pond. Traditional way to verify your design and scale up the numbers, but not easy too. Would have to learn how to do that too.

Basically the 3D modelling of the boat is the easy part. The design and iteration of the boat design through all those fields is the tricky part.

Also estimating your boat weight plus all the gear and things you want to pack.

BTW Fusion 360 is still free for personal use. They there are a few non-problematic limitations but it's still great. You need to renew it every year but it's just clicking on a webpage. It might become paid only in the future. Real problem is that fusion 360 has zero tools for boat design so I don't recommend it You could write an addon for fusion to do hydrostatics and stability curves.

 

[BClyde]

I contemplated doing that shortly, but stopped once I found out about register-ware Polycad. ( Marcus Bole - PolyCAD https://www.polycad.co.uk/index.html ) Which does everything I'ld like to do and then some. But I'm a hobbyist.

Edit: I just realised I posted about this already three years ago. Please excuse me.

JotM, I am learning Polycad now, waiting on a registration code from the developer. Have you had success converting developable surfaces into plates? Thanks

 

[JotM]

No, I haven't. I don't think it can do that.

 

[Pedro N]

Hello! As of 2026, which software would you recommend that every student should learn to use?

 

[TANSL]

Hi Pedro,
If you have AutoCAD 2021, I recommend ARQN, a powerful and comprehensive calculation module that uses AutoCAD as its drawing module. The user manual is excellent, and the after-sales support is outstanding. It's available in Spanish, although the results and interface can be displayed in either Spanish or English.

 

[Dolfiman]

Hello! As of 2026, which software would you recommend that every student should learn to use?

For sailboat early stage design, you can use Gene-Hull and its post applications for the stability and the speed prediction . It is a free of charge spreadsheet application to use with Open Office :

Thread 'Gene-Hull Sailboat new version 3.5 and its post applications Gene-Stab and Gene-VPP'

Mar 14, 2026

I am pleased to propose you this new (and probably last) version 3.5 of « Gene-Hull Sailboat » and its post applications Gene-Stab and Gene-VPP , free applications dedicated to the early stage project of sailboat (keel boat, daysailer, cruiser, racer).

This new version 3.5 includes some improvements, like :

** for the sections generation : an upgraded formulation (still using the same input data) with more output data proposed for a better mastery of the angles and curvatures,

** for the heeled hull : more output data to check its relevance, e.g. the line connecting the centers of...

• Dolfiman
• hull design sail boat plans stability vpp
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Software

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[NickMarch]

Solid Edge