Design Software wanted

I am wanting to build a super lite weight ultra strong tender for my 30 foot cat. Up here in Queensland we have things called crocs and sharks and other things that make pram dinghies look like a semi submersible coffin. I have owned an Aquapro inflatable and a Walkerbay. Both of which were admirable little boats but just too heavy and allergic to mangroves and oysters as I tend to do a lot of barra fishing and crabbing way up the back of creeks in the Shoalwater Bay area. Did I tell you about the crocks?

I have bitten the bullet and bought a heap of epoxy resin, 3mm gabboon ply and carbon fibre and even some kevlar/carbon fabric for the high wear areas. I also have some 5mm structural foam for bulkheads.

I have settled on an extended (10 foot) Savage Tern design and have drawings prepared by a friend of mine who was a Main Roads draftsman.

I have tried to use some of the free software available on the net to draw up the plans ready for cutting out but it is just too hard to do.

Can some body recommend some software I could purchase or better still is anyone out there willing to draw up the plans for a reasonable price.

I would like to print out full size templates of the major panels or even have these pieces cut out with a CNC router.

Any and all advice most welcome.

Designing light, stiff and strong structures is the engineering headache of all time and a continuous battle. It takes quite a bit of skill to do this, plus the hydrodynamic portions of the program, just to add salt the wound.

Typically, you can do tough and strong, but you have to kiss off light to a degree. Modern materials can help, though most find the cost/reward difficult to accept. 5 mm foam, isn't going to make much of a bulkhead. Cored structures are quite reliant on the core's thickness to be effective, particularly in light, stiff structures.

As to a software package, well there are free, seemingly easy ones to manipulate, but the ones that can generate "cut files" are more intense. These software packages don't design a boat, you do. The program just produces pictures of a boat shaped thing, without regard to how well suited it might be for your needs. These programs are nothing more than a cordless drill, so you don't have to drive screws with a hand held screw driver. In short, the software will happily generate the most unsuited set of shapes you ask it to, without the appropriate understanding of what you need in the shapes, being entered into the parameters.

There are lots of boats in this size range to choose from, find one (you seem to already have) and have the plans converted to a tougher build method. For example you can take a molded design and scale the scantlings for a carbon/kevlar composite, which will be the lightest and toughest, though bring your first born, as you'll pay dearly for these high tech materials. Making these types of conversions is a common request of designers, being performed regularly. It's not especially costly and you'll get a set of plans that will fit your needs.

Thanks for that.

Try DelftShip at HugeDomains.com - Delftship.com is for sale (Delftship). I successfully just used it to create my own boat design and get cut lines for the stitch and glue panels. I also gave me useful hydrodynamic information during design.

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Originally Posted by HkySk8r187

Try DelftShip at HugeDomains.com - Delftship.com is for sale (Delftship). I successfully just used it to create my own boat design and get cut lines for the stitch and glue panels. I also gave me useful hydrodynamic information during design.

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Thanks so much for that. How is your project going?

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Originally Posted by CapricornCoast

Thanks so much for that. How is your project going?

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It's going great so far. I've posted my progression another site

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?url...1&share_type=t


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I've done a fair bit with Gregg Carlson's "Hulls" proggy.
Not as ... sophisticated as some, but intuitive & effective at producing panels.
Also provides some limited hydrodynamics predictions.
Carlson Design – Software – Add Ons – Shareware – Hull Designer

NOTE: Hulls produces an outside shape. You have to figure out the structural details needed for a suitably rigid hull that complies with required buoyancy regs. Useful info is at Boatbuilder's Handbook
http://www.nmsc.gov.au/ used to provide equivalent info for AU recreational boating but seems to have disappeared.
Nearest equivalent seems to be at AMSA :: Australian Maritime Safety Authority

regards