The CAD route has a lot of benefits and I don’t think it takes the “building” out at all. Just like how people learn differently, some people visualize differently. I dont have an artistic bone in my body yet I got a rough 3D rendering of the boat drawn up in CAD in about 30 minutes - so it helps me visualize the end goal. It also helps me space plan my garage to show my wife that she can in fact still park in the garage during the build! More than likely I will loft the stations but as I progress I’ll have something to compare to.
Also just to clear things up, if I do provide CADs I would never even consider emailing
@Chris Morejohn with a question about his hull and expect him to answer without paypal’ing him the $250 first. (ETA -I don’t want that to sound retaliatory to Chris’ post above, the intent of this comment is that it would be assanine for one to expect support on a build the designer has not seen any profit from)
I like Chris’ idea of developing a community around the design that can support itself.
The CONCHFISH plans that I have been selling come in two forms. One you get my original hand drawn hull lines and offsets for how I wanted to originally build the Whipray except I have now changed the upper spray rail making it wider. I drew in the stern as originally drawn being curved.
Then Nathan Shawl did the plans on his computer drawing it up and fairing it out. It’s hard for computers to fair my hull designs out because my visions go from one type of hull shape aft and change to another going forward. This I see in my head and because I have built lots of boats I know from instinct and experience what shapes I can get away with.
Nathan and I have worked closely going back and forth with HIS hull lines of my hull lines to figure out how to get the computer to work with what I know can be had in reality and what IT sees in mathematical fiarm.
Remember computers are just calculators. They don’t know a break through shape when it gets put into them. They have to have a good computer technician help them fair in my crazy transition lines.
Now all my past designs up till I met Nathan Shawl I just drew up and lofted the stations and laid them out on a strong back jig and started laying battens over them. The worst I would be out might be 1/8-3/16” here and there in my transition area in the curve of the bilge. This is typical boat building one off. I would then just Fair the stations quickly by eye and start to plank the boat. To do this with a planked hull takes me 2-1/2 days to be ready to glass.
Now if it’s to be a biggger boat say 30-45’ I draw the hull lines up old school full size on the floor and fair with long battens. This is called lofting up the hull lines.
What all this means is with my CF plans you are getting two hull shapes to choose from but are very close in shape.
Now I feel that it’s great to get anyone into building and if using a computer makes it happen then fantastic. It’s the same thing with boating today. I grew up using a sextant for navigating. Just think of what it’s like having to keep track of what you think you are doing going through the water all the time. Keeping a written logbook. No VHF when I was young, just a compass and your wits.
When the GPS came along it changed my life. Makes things so much easier and less stressfull.
So yes please carry on with what ever gets you going.
I am presently designing and finishing up new designs for 5 new skiffs for five different companies that are all different. They will be coming to light in the market this coming year. I make a few $ from doing this. I can do this work on my boat anywhere.
What is killing me is when some guys that buy my plans after 5-8 email questions back and forth, when they get the plans the first thing they ask is “what do I do now?”.
I won’t have the time to answer these emails anymore this coming year because I will be sailing off the grid. So it would be great for others to pass on their info and I will get to be out of the loop. I will keep on posting all the hull shapes that my clients give me permission to show and everyone will either way see the refinements of my designs as they go along.
Where I am anchored now is the world of a thousand Pangas and Cayucos. The Cayucos are built in one piece of a hollowed out tree and are 30-40’ long. They go along really well with a 15 hp on the stern. No wake and really smooth running. But you have to have lots of room when you go in a turn and they weigh a ton. The Pangas do all the tourist hauling back and forth. They run along great, are dry but pound like crazy.
You know when ones coming by the spanking noise. I would love to redesign their mid section forward.
So many boats, so little time...
