What should I draw?

[Clinton B Chase]

Maybe folks can help me. I cannot for the life of me decide what to draw. I wish to draw up a new hull to practice my newly learned design skills from the Gartside course. I would like it to be a boat I might build so I am thinking sailboat, at this point. The 20' er I drew looks great but is too big...want a dinghy that I can singlehand and enjoy but will be able to put my family in. I'd like it to be somewhat seaworthy for chop and seas in unprotected waters. I feel like the boats I would want to build have already been drawn and can't think of a new twist...Oughtred's Gannet and Fulmar look great although I'd draw more sheer into their profiles. Gartside's 16' dinghy is fabulous but I'd draw a lug rig for her, not a big deal. It seems like a waste of time to draw what's already been done. How have other designers-in-training dealt with this? Any ideas to get my pencils and splines moving here!?

Cheers,
Clint

[rbgarr]

Clint-

If I were going to design a small boat to carry a family your size, but also wanted an interesting rowing boat, I'd draw an arc-bottomed double ended boat with a transom above the water line. It could carry a load with greater stability when loaded, but be swifter when not.

Not a dory or Lincolnville Salmon Wherry type, but something else. It's hard to put in words what I mean. If you want to see a sketch of one that I got from an old boatbuilder, PM me your snail mail and I'll send a copy to you.

DT

[W Grabow]

One of the interesting things about boat designs is that each design can be a unique solution for your specific planned uses. I designed my first boat for the shallow rivers and open (windy) spaces of Nebraska. Next was a cartoppable design (no ramps, no trailers) for the reef fringed coast of Panama. Then a sharpie design (trailable, quick to build) for sailing the big reservoirs of northern Alabama. And so on .... I am now on design #7 for Colorado lakes. Surely if you list your unique requirements, such as building space and schedule, need for transport, available storage, budget, planned uses, number of passengers, weather conditions, etc., you will find that you can create a unique design which may satisfy these many conditions better than any existing design. Maybe an existing design may provide inspiration that you only need to modify. There is little that is truly new, but determining what is best for your requirements can be a study in itself.

[Clinton B Chase]

TX Dave but I really want to draw sailboat...the project after the Shearwater I am about to start. But do want a transomed sailboat and a high aspect standing lug rig a lot like gartside draws for his 14'er, Skylark, which I saw launched at WBS this past summer. The biggest 14'er I have ever sailed...we had 6 people in her total...I think this is where I am heading...

Cheers,
Clint

[Stephen Hutchins]

Clinton,
If you keep drawing boats freehand until you like what you see, I think you'll find you'll want to draw your own boats regardless of what's been done before.

[Tom Lathrop]

Clinton,

If you don't have a clear idea of the boat you want to draw but like one of Gartsides or Oughtred's or Welsford's or someone else's, do one like that. Just take a photo of the one you like and don't put a scale against their work. That will give you as much freedom as you could want until some "different" and personal thought occurs. Doing all the dimensions, detail forms and calculations will make it your boat and no one else's.

[mmd]

Start with a list of "client desires". If you can't come up with one without describing an existing boat, interview a sailing friend and ask them to list the features that they would like in a sailboat of a given length. This list is your design brief. Let the design brief be the controlling factor in the design development, not some "mind's eye" picture of your ideal boat. When you hit the mark per the desired features, and have proved the naval arch bits such as stability and sail balance then refine the design for pretty.

[cs]

Clinton have a looksee at this thread:

http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=12184

This is a good example of starting with a thought and carrying through the design process (still working on it).

Chad

[Jay Greer]

My own designs usually start from a sheer plan, often drawn on a napkin. If I like what I have sketched, I may develop a half model.
Sounds old fashioned but it allows me to see what a have in my head better in 3D. After I am happy with the model, I will draw up a set of lines and do the calcs. From this I will adjust the sail plan accordingly.
JG

[Clinton B Chase]

TX for suggestions. They helped as did a few glasses of wine...I am off running, er drawing...got 4 big sketches now of what looks like will be a 14-15' (maybe even 16') sailing dinghy...I am doing research on rigs...had planned to do a stand. lug, BUT I wondered about a rig like GANNET's by Iain Oughtred. How does this work? It is a gunter sloop, but one that can be used mainsail alone in a mast step fwd of the other step? How does this work...seems the best of both worlds...with crew step the mast and fly a jib, when singlehanding step the mast fwd and not fly a jib, which means I wouldn't need shrouds right? Is this easy to rig...in other words is it a pain to take off the shrouds and re-put them back on? How much more time to rig a gunter sloop w/ just mainsail/no shrouds vs. a standing lug? Thanks...back to making another sketch. Would love to hear from people with experience.

Cheers,
Clint