The design spiral

Hi all,
I am currently reading the book Principles of yacht design by Lars Larsson. Is there a design spiral for powerboats? I am designing a planing boat from scratch and i was thinking if i there is a design spiral similar to that by Lars Larsson but for powerboats.

Thanks

 

Just skip the details concerning only sailboats and that's it..

 

A design spiral isn't something set in stone. Thou shalt do this first. It isn't really something that is followed in order. It's a concept. A way of thinking. Ship/boat design is an iterative process and a design spiral is a handy tool for visualizing that process. Every designer, every firm, even every project may use a different one. Google images for "boat design spiral" or "ship design spiral" and you will find several examples.

Thinking up your own design spiral for your project would be a very good exercise to help you get into thinking in this iterative style. You never want to take some aspect of the design so far that it would require major rework if other aspects changed. For example taking your structural design to completion and then finding out that you needed a bigger engine than you have first estimated.

Simply removing the sailboat aspects from Larsson's spiral would not necessarily give you what you need. Does your project have regulations or standards that need to be checked? Is it a commercial craft or a passenger craft that might have strict rules for lifesaving. Larsson doesn't have much on systems. What about exhaust, domestic water, sewage, electrical, HVAC etc. Depending on your style of vessel these aspect could take up widely varying amounts of design time and space within the vessel.

 

Hi DavidJ,
Thanks for the informative reply. I am designing a powerboat for my thesis, something similar to the runabout boats. As for regulations and standards, there are none that i am aware of but there are certain features which have to be emphasised such as chines, deadrise angle, spray rails etc...
Would you recommend any book or paper which i can rely on?






o the runabout type.