Where To Start - designing and building 22' and 24' aluminum boat

Let me start by giving a little bit of background on myself. I have been the owner/operator of a boat tower fabricator for 15 years now. Before that I was a structural steel welder for a heavy equipment company. And my first welding job after getting out of the USAF was as a FAA certified powerplant welder. Now that you know that much about me, on with the point to this thread. I have been wanting to build my own aluminum hull boat for about 10 years now. And for the past year, the drive has become really strong. I know what I want to build, but I am not sure exactly where to start. The size I am looking at is somewhere between 22' and 24'. I am also a pretty accomplished ACAD 3d designer when it comes to drawing the towers I build. Does anyone have any direction I should go first. Maybe links that will help me with this project. Thanks for any help that anyone can give.

 

As with any first boat, start with your dinghy! Work out details, techniques, materials...

For both dinghy and big boat, use stock plans for plywood, from Bolger or any of the other designers. Get books by Bolger, Gerr, and Pollard.

http://www.boat-links.com/Atkinco/
http://www.instantboats.com/
http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/
http://www.gerrmarine.com/dave.html/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0070504261/102-7813754-5812958?v=glance&n=283155

And by the way, I posted a question on the Metal boats board - maybe you could help me out with materials questions?

Sal's Dad

 

I have never met this guy, but he has a pretty informative site. You might want to check out his articles, and has lots on metal boat building stuff. It don't cost ya a dime to read it, but should get you going in the right direction too. The previous links posted by Sals Dad are pretty nifty as well. Good luck!
Gregg Claussen


http://www.kastenmarine.com/articles.htm

 

Make your own design

If you want to design you own boat take a look at:

http://www.simplicityboats.com/hulldesigner.html exellent easy to use free software to design hull from developable plates.

At www.freeship.org you can download the freeship software, steeper learning curve but very flexible. Many good example models available for download to study.

Start small.

I found it very enjoyable to make cardboard models from the developed plate drawings.

 

To All Watching This Thread

Well, since I started this thread a few days ago. A few people have given me a couple of really good ideas on where to start. I have actually started the drawing. I am using Auto Cad. It is the software I currently have I am really familiar with it. In the near future, I may switch this thread to the metal boat building forum, and keep a running count of phase completions. I will also be adding a page to my current web site so those who may be interested in viewing progress of the drawing can go there and take a look. I will be adding a look. http://baywatchtowers.com is the website that I use for my business. I also maintain it mtyself. Hope some of you guys are interested enough to take a look from time to time. Thanks for all your help so far and in the coming days.

Tim Barry