Hello Paul,

To design your own boat with nothing but a PC and some spare time playing behind the computer is just plain fun. Then building it and watching all the panels fit accurately to the millimeter, seeing the boat come together just as it was designed, is a great experience! Your advice goes against all the fun things that CAD was meant to do. For what reason?

If you would only build one S&G boat ever and you want it to be right the first time then, yes, it is best to go with a proven design. But if you are like me, I like to try to design something and play around with it while not expecting a perfect result. If I don't like it I build another one next year. So far it has always worked fine from the first boat on (uhmm well only 2 so far, soon 3 I hope).

Maybe you should try it yourself some time. Like I posted earlier, and others may disagree, there is not at all a lot of software that suits the needs of S&G kayak building. It can be overdesigned, or proprietary. But with the right tools, it adds extra satisfaction to the job. Your fear of giving up prematurely is not justified IMHO because the sense of pride and ownership is increased when you design your own. So the question was right on and I hope that others who would like to try it, are encouraged.

Henk

: I'm going to assume that you are planning to use this software for your
: second or third boat--because I don't think it would be a good idea to use
: it for your first boat.

: To save time and cash, make this as a 1/6th or 1/4 scale model.

: By today's standards it is definitely a Luddite approach