Question:
CAD software for boat design and reapair ?
My husband is a boat designer and builder (mostly traditional boats 8'-30'
for glass or wood construction) who is moving to CAD designing. He has
looked at Prolines by Vacanti and Nautilus by New Wave Systems. Anyone with
recommendations or comments on these design packages (or any other
packages)?
Answer:
-try once http://www.graphicmagic.com/
I've heard it's one of the best
-Please tell your husband to be extremely careful in considering the move to CAD
for traditional boats, especially if they are to be built in the traditional
way (wood, that is, not the other stuff...) I have used a variety of design
software for about 10 years now, from New Wave's Nautilus to AutoShip. I have
found that while you can produce beautifully fair hulls this way, it is still
easier to draw a wooden boat using methods that reflect the building method.
My splines are all wood (early 1900's Stanley boxwood) and will produce a
BUILDABLE shape in wood very easily. Duplicating these shapes on the computer
is NOT easy.
If he is going to design traditional-looking boats in glass, with no
requirement for faked rabbet lines or sheer strakes, then the computer is fine,
otherwise do what I do, and go back to the drawing board.
-Take a look at the Design Software page at boatbuilding.com
http://boatbuilding.com/cgibin/links/Design/Software/
There are links there to all of the available boat design software.
For designing boats that are to be built plank on frame, my choice would
be MultiSurf by AeroHydro Inc. It is expensive, but allows the creation
of a wide range of surface types--- not just the NURBS (Non-Uniform
Rational B-spline) surfaces that are the industry standard. (It is easy
to design a NURBS surface that is beatiful and fair but unbuildable
plank on frame).
At the other end of the price spectrum try Hulls, a free, easy to use
program for designing hardchine plywood boats with up to six chines. It
develops plank shapes, and is a good initial design tool.
