Boat and yacht design has gone a long way from the early days of wooden boat designs. The advent of modern technology has led to the development of new materials used for constructing boats and yachts. Fiberglass is now popularly used as the main material for building boats. The use of light-weight metals such as aluminum and titanium have also brought a new wind to boat and yacht design.
From paper sketches of the ancient boat builders, computer aided design and software tools have become the trusty companion of the modern-day boat designers. The Internet breakthrough also paved the way for better and faster communication between and among boat owners, boat builders and designers, boat suppliers, and other parties involved in the design process. Thus, it is now highly feasible and more affordable to have a boat built and designed even from offshore.
The boat and yacht design process may seem complex at first. It is made of a series of steps that may vary slightly from one designer to another. The design process should involve careful analysis of the envisioned boat’s performance and structure as well as its form and function.
As in any other building projects, the owner’s idea of what he wants from the boat should be the starting point of any boat design. However rough, the owner’s concept must provide a description of the intended boat including the features that he wants the boat to have. This concept should more or less detail the owner’s preference for power, equipment, materials, overall size, accommodations, budget and project timing. A good boat designer should be able to help the boat owner layout the details of his preferences.
From here, the boat designer can create a preliminary boat design study most probably with the use of a computer to design a visual model of the boat. The second stage would involve working on estimating plans which consist of the first few drawings of the actual building plans plus a few preliminary design documents. At this stage, the boat designer should have preliminary Weight Study, a preliminary Equipment List, and a preliminary Vessel Specification.
Then comes the rest of the design work. This involves design plans for the outboards and inboard profiles, interior profile and arrangement, spar and rigging as required, rudder details, vessel specification, mechanical details, etc.
When creating a boat design, boat designers should keep in mind the various classification societies' rules guide for structure. These rules take into consideration safety and quality standards in building boats and yachts.
Kasten Marine Design, Inc., incorporates the following principles in their design process. These are goods points to consider in boat and yacht design whenever applicable:
· An interior and on-deck layout per the owner's requirements.
· Performance suited to the expectations of the vessel type.
· Power vessel stability per International Maritime Organization (IMO) criteria for ocean service.
· Sailing vessel stability per International Standards Organization (ISO) Stability Index (STIX) criteria now used within the EU.
· Construction Support Services
· During the Construction Phase of the process, there may possibly be a request for additional design / construction related services in support of construction.
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