Introduction Iboat

Introduce yourself here
Iboat
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 11:22 am
2

Introduction Iboat

#1

Post by Iboat »

Hi there,

My name is Iboat ;) I am a graphic designer living on a small island off the coast of Venezuela. I dream of one day owning a (fishing) boat able to hop between islands in the region. I have my goal set on first designing a boat in 3D then CNC cutting it and welding it together. I joined this forum looking for resources on boat building and for a community to share my journey with.
kmorin
Donator 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Posts: 1734
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:37 am
15
Location: Kenai, Alaska

Re: Introduction Iboat

#2

Post by kmorin »

IBoat, welcome to the AAB.com Forum for welded plate alloy boat enthusiasts.

Good plan, any plan that includes designing and building your own welded aluminum boat is worthwhile IMVU-bO; (in my very unbiased opinion)!

Being a graphic designer will probably help you learn to draw the boat in one of the marine software packages availalbe? Defltship Pro is good software suite with goof features. I've used this package for many years but there are quite a few other applications available. Almost assuredly you'll want software that will provide developed surfaces if you're going to have NC cut panels and parts. Rino has a marine design embedded application in that software and there a few that use AutoCAD as the graphics 'engine' and have tools designed for marine design. Evaluating marine design software is a challenge as there are several different interfaces to the modeling environment that require leaning before you'd be able to accept or refuse that method of work.

If you're paying wages for helpers, welders, and fitters, then NC cutting is probably a worthwhile goal to save in the overall costs of that paid labor. However if you're doing the boat yourself, essentially alone... NC might be a major expense worth weighing against your own layout and cutting time on a one-off project. Not sure what a cut file execution for your boat will cost in your area? But even in the Pacific NW of the US (Alaska) I can make a very decent hourly wage laying out and cutting the hull panels and parts by hand. So, the cost for the service is important to compare to doing the work by hand.

Also, the time to add for creating the output files from the Marine Design package is important to add in. Converting from CAD to CAM is still not 100% smooth process and I've witnessed major expenses added to simple small boats because the designer had to spend many 'extra hours' with the chosen NC cutting service- so I'd research that step very carefully before assuming there is money saved using NC cut files?

Last remark; it is important for new comers to metal boat building to buy/access a welding power supply and wire gun (MIG) and learn to weld well enough to put the correctly sized welds on the different thicknesses implied by a boat the size you're planning? I'd estimate that a completely new welder will need to have 100 to 200 man hours of actual arc time- meaning watching the actual arc while welding practice seams before he or she were ready to build a boat. The spread of time in my estimate is because after teaching welding for about 40some years; I've witnessed fast learners and slower learning rates in those I've taught.

I'd be happy to try to send a set of images of a ocean-going panga hull form that I drew as part of an online design discussion several years ago. I believe this hull form is common on the Atlantic Coast of South America? But then you may have other hull forms in mind?

Welcome to the Forum, good luck with the steps toward your goal.

Cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK
kmorin
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