| I often get posed the question, "Do your plans come | | | | (CAD.) This revolution in the boat designer's world |
| full sized or do you need to loft them?" I have to | | | | allowed the naval architect to use an infinitely large |
| truthfully answer, neither, which often confuses | | | | piece of paper on which to design his boat full-size. |
| people because they believe home built wooden boat | | | | Some of the early versions of AutoCAD came with a |
| plans are one or the other. In these days of | | | | full scale drawing of the solar system with all of the |
| computer aided design (CAD) drafting, no longer is it | | | | planets and moons. It was 93 million miles from the |
| necessary to loft boat plans, because the computer | | | | earth to the sun! It gave you an appreciation of how |
| actually does this for the boat designer. What this | | | | huge the solar system actually is. On the other hand, |
| means to the boat builder, is that all they need to do | | | | I have offset likes one millionth of an inch and was |
| is measure and mark, not loft. | | | | able to zoom in until the two lines appeared on |
| Lofting is a process whereby the boat is actually | | | | opposite sides of the computer screen. |
| drawn full sized to determine the exact sizes of the | | | | So, no, you don't need to loft designs properly |
| frames and components. Back when boat plans were | | | | designed on CAD, and no there is no reason to need |
| drawn by hand in smaller scale, it was impossible to | | | | full sized plans or patterns, so long as you select |
| draw them accurately enough to ensure the finished | | | | modern plans by designers who use modern |
| boat had "fair" curves, that is to say, curves that | | | | technology to design their boats. All plans from Spira |
| smoothly transitioned from one part of the hull to | | | | International are computer generated for accuracy |
| the other. In the old days, a table of offsets or a | | | | and pre-lofted in the computer. If you have selected |
| half hull model was used to lay out several key points | | | | plans from another designer, ask before you buy, |
| on the hull, and a long flexible piece of wood, called a | | | | "Are these pre-lofted or do they come full sized?" If |
| spline was used to create a fair curve. From this | | | | neither, then you have a big job ahead of you and |
| full-sized drawing, measurements were taken to | | | | you better check a few books out of the library so |
| determine the exact sizes of the framing elements. | | | | that you can learn to loft. |
| Enter the computer and Computer Aided Drafting | | | | |