design

Hi, and welcome to the YachtForums!

Hand drawings is probably the best way of learning yacht design, since the programs can only help you get it as a rendering or for CAD/CAM use.

I am doing something in between, by using a 2D illustration program which can later be transfered into 3D. The advantage over pen and paper is that I can change the design forever until it starts to look good and I also have a scale so the size of things get realistic.

For more info on real yacht design software you can look into Boatdesign.net, where they exchange a lot of experience on what is available.

Today I was at a shipyard to prepare for a CNC-robot which is used to make the plug for a mould, for fibreglass production. They worked with Rhino and Solidworks which are pretty multipurpose 3D-programs.

Good luck, and don´t forget to post your drawings here in the Designers Forum!

/Lars

PS. Here is a (bad) picture of the Robot. There are two of them running in parallel on tracks where they can make boats of up to 35 meter in length!

Hi Luc,

Yes I was there and they are now working on a 16 m hull. The robots kan do a lot of things and the 35 m limit is what they can reach in one go. If you make the plug or mould in pieces you can off course get it bigger.

You see the piece of white plastic, this is how they can start a job, letting the robot cut out the basic shape, then it puts a coat of fairing outside and then it precision cuts the final shape.

Interesting is that it can also measure an existing shape with a laser tool, so an exact copy can be made!

But you are right, the premises allows boats up to about 50 meter being built indoors.

/Lars