: As usual Dale, you're taking kayak building to a new level. What did you
: think of the Bear Boat software? Can you also provide a link for the
: software. I've been looking for a decent reasonable Non-DOS (which some of
: the older package seem to be) software to design small boats with and am
: interested in your experience.

: Roger

Thanks. I thought the bearboat software was pretty good once I figured it out, and I couldn't beat the price (free). Definitely download the instructions and read them completely. It'll save you a lot of pain.

The one thing I wish it would do is have the option to use all English units or all Metric. The program uses your weight in pounds, but then does most all of the measurements in Metric. I also wish it would give me all of the X and Y coordinates for each form in inches.

I could have printed the forms and built them directly from the prints, but I couldn't add any information to the printouts like I wanted to do. The way I got around it was to print out all of the stations, measure each point where it crosses the 2cm square grid, and then input the points into my CAD program. It was a lot of work, but the only way I knew to get it to the CAD program.

When using the program don't forget to Save each time you like how you have it before you continue modifying the parameters. It's easy to get carried away modifying things and wish you could go back. Also, when you modify one parameter, remember to consider how it will change other things. Just play with it a bunch and you'll get the hang of it.