Anyone here involved in Sailboat design.?

[tdw]

Originally Posted by bobperry

Thanks Gary. You can ask any questions you like. I'm here for my own pleasure and it would be my pleasure to help you.

Rod is a good guy. Years ago he did an exhaustive study on stability and roll over stastics. The result was the boats with the best stability number were more prone to roll overs. I'm not sure anyone listened except me.

Get Macsurf. That will help you desging hulls and VPP's.
Learn Rhino or solid works. That will help you with the bull **** element of design that is becoming so necessary today. Do you have any idea ho m,any boats I designed with a pencil, some curves, a few splines and weights, and my meager brain. Many.

I have to go. I should not post after half bottle of wine.

Get all the software. It will make you a genius.
I'm not exactly sure what software Olin Stephens used.
I know Bill Garden laughed at the idea of software.
Bill Atkin never heard the term "software"

I'm not trying to scare you off.
I'm trying to put things into perspective.

One or two of them even turned out quite well.

[SVAuspicious]

Splines. Ducks. French curves. Tick strips. Simpson's rule.

Damn I'm old.

[bobperry]

Tick strips! Damn, you are old. I still have some.

[GaryHLucas]

Originally Posted by bobperry

Thanks Gary. You can ask any questions you like. I'm here for my own pleasure and it would be my pleasure to help you.

Rod is a good guy. Years ago he did an exhaustive study on stability and roll over stastics. The result was the boats with the best stability number were more prone to roll overs. I'm not sure anyone listened except me.

Get Macsurf. That will help you desging hulls and VPP's.
Learn Rhino or solid works. That will help you with the bull **** element of design that is becoming so necessary today. Do you have any idea ho m,any boats I designed with a pencil, some curves, a few splines and weights, and my meager brain. Many.

I have to go. I should not post after half bottle of wine.

Get all the software. It will make you a genius.
I'm not exactly sure what software Olin Stephens used.
I know Bill Garden laughed at the idea of software.
Bill Atkin never heard the term "software"

I'm not trying to scare you off.
I'm trying to put things into perspective.

Bob,
I have Rhino, Solid Edge, and AutoCAD, and I started on a board. However I am a block and cylinders kind of guy, not the sexy curve kind. When someone is really good at what they do, they make it look really easy, and software doesn't make you good.

I've always wanted an aluminum boat. I really like working with aluminum, I can cut it, weld it, and machine it. I bought a set of plans from Brent Swain for his 31 foot Origami style hull. It is mostly conical sections, but the bow and stern have some compound curvature pulled into them during construction. The boats have a partial chine that falls just below the waterline and the hull is extremely fair without any filler. I have sailed on one of his 36 footers in steel and was very impressed with how it sailed.

The big problem is that few home built boats ever get finished. With the origami method the huge amount of work isn't in the hull, it's fitting out, like any boat. Brent's plans don't specify an interior, everyone builds what they want. Most turn out poorly I believe because people start building the interior in the hull without knowing how everything will fit. I wanted to accurately model the hull so that I could layout the interior completely before building anything. Then I could have the hull plates CNC plasma cut, and all the interior parts CNC router cut, essentially producing a kit of parts that should substantially reduce the risk that I wouldn't get it done.

The tough part is modeling that compound curvature at the bow and stern. I believe that I figured out a way to calculate quite closely, but then life got in the way and I haven't played with it any more for a few years.

Gary H. Lucas

[bobperry]

Gary:
Not tonight.
I have a puppy and a wife that needs taking care of.

Maybe tomorow.

I'll tell you this:
I did it on my own. It was hard and some times it was not fun counting the change in your pocket to see what you could have for dinner.

So, HTFU and make it on your own. I promise to be a reource for you.
Keep strugging on with your software. I did a number of very nice alu boats before I ever heard of the term "software".

Software will never make you a designer. I hope you don't take this personally. You just belong to a generation of young people who think that software will replace creativity.

My dead kid Spike had more creativity in his little finger than you or I could ever hope to have. He drew things and he bulit them.

I know I am harsh. Forgive me. I have earned it.

[GaryHLucas]

Bob,
I think you've got me wrong. I bought my first computer, for $12,000 in 1979, two years before the introduction of the PC. I'm soon to be 58, and just had a go round with prostate cancer. I have 4 patents on machines I designed, two of which are still in production. We did the software for one of those products in Assembler burned into ROM chips.

So I have no illusions about software making anyone great at anything! I also never expect to own an aluminum boat, so the computer modeling is just fun.

Gary H. Lucas

[bobperry]

Gary:
Yep, I figured you for a 22 year old kid.
I was hooked into Boeing Computer services thru an old fashioned phone modem in 1974 and I think I was the only yacht designer in the PNW who was using a computer. I thought I was hot ****.

I bought my first IBM PC, printer and a really stupid plotter for a bit over $10,000. The plotter was junk when it was new. The printer just barely worked but I got by.

I still have a digital planimeter. Boy, did that become obsolete fast. But I got a lot of use out of it. I found it the other day and I wondered what I should do with it. I'm not sure I remember how to use it.

Have fun with your project. I'm here to help if you need it.

[GaryHLucas]

Originally Posted by bobperry

Gary:
Yep, I figured you for a 22 year old kid.

Damn,
If only I could get the 22 year old chicks to see me the same way!

Gary H. Lucas