Hull designing programmes

[kris88]

I'm asking for a friend, who wants to have a new hull built. Are there any good cad programmes for designing hulls? Ideally one which can output a cutting plan to send to laser cutters.

 

Regards kris

[Alan de Enfield]

Equally as important as a 'good' hull is having a reliable engine. Without one you are just a 'floating caravan'

[kris88]

Equally as important as a 'good' hull is having a reliable engine. Without one you are just a 'floating caravan'

????

[Alan de Enfield]

????

 

????

[TheBiscuits]

Selection here ranging from free to thousands of pounds:

 

http://www.boatdesign.net/software/

 

A lot depends on your needs - much of hull design software is about high efficiency shapes and stability curves. There are some designs that float better upside down!

 

If you have a need for a one-off Cat C or D hull for canal/river usage, you might be as well drawing up the style you want and getting one of the boat kit firms to work out the cut shapes - they do this all the time for custom styles.

[kris88]

 

????

We'll if you don't know what you mean, how is anybody else supposed to?

[bottle]

Equally as important as a 'good' hull is having a reliable engine. Without one you are just a 'floating caravan'

 

 

????

 

 

 

????

 

 

Three very helpful posts, even better the first one was only the second post.

 

I know we tend to wander of subject after a few posts but this may be the worst.

 

Now I have gone and wondered to.

 

I think the OP has an answer.

 

Close the thread.

[kris88]

Thanks for the link biscuits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the OP has an answer.

 

Close the thread.

Why close the thread? If you closed the thread everytime some numpty thinks they are being clever, no threads would go far.

 

Regards kris

[bottle]

Whoosh!

 

It was in jest, hence the smilie.

 

I could have put, "Angry of Tunbridge Wells" as a signature but you may not have understood that either.

 

 

(maybe you cannot see the smilie)

[Alan de Enfield]

We'll if you don't know what you mean, how is anybody else supposed to?

 

I know what I meant,

 

It seems to me a fairly straightforward statement, just to advise your friend to get a reliable and suitable engine.

 

I was questioning what you meant by ????.

[kris88]

Ah we have both laurel and hardy posting in the thread.

[bargemast]

Hi Kris,

 

this could be just what you're looking for : http://delftship.net/

 

Peter.

[kris88]

Thanks for that peter.

 

Regards kris

[RLWP]

What sort of boat Kris?

 

I dabbled with some of the free ones a couple of years ago. You need a lot of boat hull knowledge to use most of them.

 

I have a background in CAD surface design and I struggled with the ones I tried

 

Richard

[bag 'o' bones]

What sort of boat Kris?

 

I dabbled with some of the free ones a couple of years ago. You need a lot of boat hull knowledge to use most of them.

 

I have a background in CAD surface design and I struggled with the ones I tried

 

Richard

From my experience you need a lot of CAD knowledge to produce anything even remotely useful for a laser cutter!

Based on the tone of the OP's question i'm assuming that the friend has no experience of computer based design if so I think they might have underestimated the amount of time required to become proficient and quickly become disillusioned with the whole idea of designing on computer. I could be wrong however!

Having said that if you can get your head around drawing in three dimensions 'Sketchup' is probably one of the more easier programs to learn.

Might find it quicker to design the boat on paper and hand it over to someone who has the necessary CAD experience in producing a cutting program.

[RLWP]

Might find it quicker to design the boat on paper and hand it over to someone who has the necessary CAD experience in producing a cutting program.

 

It does go back to 'what sort of boat'

 

A punt? A simple flat bottomed boat? A canal boat? A round chined inspection launch?*

 

Richard

 

*

[blackrose]

 

I know what I meant,

 

It seems to me a fairly straightforward statement, just to advise your friend to get a reliable and suitable engine.

 

I was questioning what you meant by ????.

I think Kriss probably meant he found your response about engines a bit odd Alan. It struck me as odd too.

 

The original post asks about CAD hull design programs and you immediately advised him get a reliable engine. It's ok to take a thread off topic sometimes but that one just seemed rather arbitrary. You could just as easily have advised his friend to make sure he has a suitable propeller or adequate ventilation for example.

Edited December 20, 2015 by blackrose

[Tony Brooks]

From my experience you need a lot of CAD knowledge to produce anything even remotely useful for a laser cutter!

 

snip

 

and also a lot of knowledge of the Naval Architecture variety to ensure the stresses and strains are properly accounted for, let alone fluid dynamic flows. Back to what sort of boat. On a narrowboat a likeable shape and gross over engineering would probably do, on a sea boat the last thing you want is stress fractures appearing in a bad sea - bulk carriers have been lost that way.

[Murflynn]

 

on a sea boat the last thing you want is stress fractures appearing in a bad sea - bulk carriers have been lost that way.

unsurprisingly, the stresses on a bulk carrier in a long swell can often be critical, but most small boats will likely be over-engineered, unless a skeg or fin keel is involved.

Edited December 20, 2015 by Murflynn

[Stevec]

Another point worth mentioning to the OP is that if you go to a boat builder with your own design and say "I want one like this" the answer could be - I only do hulls to my own shape - take it or leave it. Or the quoted price for the design with be somewhat higher than expected.

In this I am only guessing having never asked for a hull build - could someone more experienced comment?

 

Stevec

[steven wilkinson]

and - how big is the laser cutter?

[bargemast]

It could be a better solution to buy existing boatplans designed by a known architect who will be able to supply the CAD cutting disc too.

 

There are always some changes possible on an existing plan that don't have to cost a fortune to be adapted to ones wishes a bit more.

 

To start with this will cost a bit more than doing it yourself, but it will save a fortune in time, and if at a later stage the boat has to be sold, a design of a known designer will surely have a better chance to sell then a one off by someone that nobody has ever heard of.

 

Here are a few examples that may be worth some studying : http://www.dutch-barges.net/ http://www.steelboats.com/welcome.html

 

http://www.mkboatdesigns.co.uk/building_a_steel_boat.html http://metalboatkits.com/ http://www.euroshipservices.nl/english/ http://www.bonitoboats.eu/

 

There are of course many more that could supply you with kits, plans and CAD cutting files and discs, these are only a few possibilities.

 

Peter.

Edited December 20, 2015 by bargemast