Aaron,

As has been said by Nick, these renderings are interesting approaches to the creative potential in stitch and glue building of kayaks.

However, I did spend a few moments cruising through the indicated website and noticed a few fairly peculiar aspects regarding the use of the software for personal kayak design.

1. You let me use the software, which has been created by you, for no charge.

2. I will have to pay for the service you provide; namely: you print full-size templates of each hull panel that makes for a complete boat.

These two points are understood, as it's provide something for a service fee in exchange for the use. What isn't so clear and frankly, runs completely counter to anything I have learned in over 35 years of being a self-employed cameraman/director, as well as boat designer, is this part...

1. Even though I create the boat that I wish to build with your service provided, you retain ownership of the design and I only get to make one example of the design, which I created.

2. You have no liability for that which you claim to now own, even though I was the one who, in fact, created the design.

As an artist all my life, this is as far from the usual creative process and ownership of same, as I can imagine it ever becoming. In my professional experience, he who creates, owns the rights to that which has been created until such time as he signs it away. The signing away process typically entails an exchange of fees for rights in an agreed upon fashion.

It seems to me that this is a decently inadequate deal for the guys out here in kayak land, who want to draw-up their own boats and then build them. You are getting a fee for generating the templates, or maybe even a CNC cut kit in the future. This fee should cover your invested time in the production of the software and the use of a large format printer and paper to generate said templates and there it should end. I should not have to come back to you and pay, once again, for the privilege of building another example of that which I created.

Please keep in mind that there are already several examples of Freeware/Shareware design software for kayaks that also generate .dxf style output files for template production and/or nicely generated lists of offset values for the lofting of hull panels..... and the guy who creates the boat from his own hard work and inspiration, gets to make as many as he wants without having to bow to the gatekeeper of his creative impulse.

To make all this even worse, you have sworn-off any liability when it comes to the efficacy of the generated designs, all while maintaining ownership. Governments have fallen for less.

To put this in perspective... I do design small craft, as does our generous host, Nick and a decent number of other very talented guys who regularly participate on this Forum. We usually do our business thing as follows:

1. A boat is designed and offered to those who would like to build said boat

2. A fee structure is satisfied based on the willingness of the builder to find said fee appropriate for services rendered.

3. Builder gets to generate one example from said boat design. This one example thing is because another designer, or I were the ones to actually create the boat and not the builder who purchases the right to build one boat.

I'd love to hear your comments in response.

Regards,

Chris Ostlind
Lunada Design