PLYBOAT DESIGN SOFTWARE

[Norske3]

ANYONE USING/HAVE KNOW-HOW OF THIS SOFTWARE?

www.plyboats.com (http://www.plyboats.com)

Looks like it would be fun for designing your own Sharpie... smile.gif

[ 11-15-2002, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[mmd]

I noodled around with it a few years ago, before purchasing more powerful software when I opened my own design office. It is relatively easy to learn and gives accurate results for simplistic boat forms. Several people I know have used it to create quite nice small craft. I'm sure that there will be others that will suggest other programs, but a lot of dissent on these types of programs is "Ford vs Chevy" type of debate. Plyboats is a good program for it's price. Be forewarned that such programs are merely a tool and will not provide common sense or good taste. Remember the adage, "Anybody can make a mistake but to REALLY screw up, use a computer." ;)

[Dave Hadfield]

Yes, I've used it to make a 10ft tender, and a 16ft sharpie canoe.

It isn't perfect. When you transfer the offsets onto the plywood you still want to keep your creative juices flowing, and not trust it blindly (ie, if you really think that sheer line should have more upcurve at the bow, you're probably right).

But it works. Check out my post on Misc.-Boats.

[paladin]

It works great if you play by the rules. To do a multi chine or lapstrake boat lie about where the waterline really is and create three or more boats on on top of the next.....you can actually do a round bilge by working the hull in thirds and having a half dozen chines, pop a curve through the chine points and the error will be less than 2 percent...and much less if you are careful.

[Norske3]

Thank you Forumites..will check them out. smile.gif

[Tomcat]

I have Plyboats 2.0, and used the versions forward from the original one. I have made a catamaran with it, that you can see over on Duckworths, as BassAkwards.

I really like the program. My version is DOS based, and you just enter a bunch of numbers in little boxes, and it pumps out the hull. I was surprised by the fairness of the lines, because the on-screen lines don't look all that great. It has a bunch of funky features, like it prints out paper hull shapes you can tape together. It also gives hydrostatics, dxf files, and the full size plywood flat panel lines.

There are limitations on the version I have: There are three control points longitudinaly. Bow, an intermediate point, stern. You can't have a boat with a different dept and width point in that middle area. You could have maximum dept at the transom, and maximum width at the mid point, but not maximum width at the 1/2 way point, and maximum depth at the 4/7 point.

Currently my computer doesn't support DOS, so I can't use this program, but I occasionaly wish I could.