Sheer Line,...so important !

[brian eiland]

There is an 'art' to designing 'boats' verses ships. I have seen some of Tad's work and I consider it masterful. And I believe he worked with Bruce King for some period of time, another rather masterful designer. I don't think I know of your work Timm.

There was a full couple of pages devoted to the similiar subject in a book I looked back thru a month or so ago (can't recall which one right now as I had looked thru 5 at the same time). It spoke of the effort to draw just the bow line (and sheer). The author spoke of spending anywhere from a day to a full week at getting these two VERY important lines right. Computers just can't draw these lines. Olin Stephens could and did. Now that I think of it I may have been reading a review of his new book "Lines" that I have not had a chance to look at yet.

I was in the retail/wholesale boat business for 18 years (72'-90') and I experienced the fiberglass revolution. As years went by I grew to describe the looks of sailboats as just so many floating clorax bottles. Even more true in the day I wrote this, as it is today !!

Just finished reading your article about Ray Hunt in the June issue of Soundings, I wanted to write and let you know how much I truly enjoyed the article.

You captured not only the factual history, but more importantly, some of the essence of being involved with yachts and yacht design itself... "the measure of total understanding of the nature of a boat."

And most importantly, you included the oft forgotten element, the sheer line. What a terribly important factor! Romantically stated, but oh so true, "it is simply her sheer … sheer beauty that is. She enters the harbor like a beautiful woman entering a room. Her sheer is the line we try to get right when we doodle boats." . So many of today's boats lack this beauty, and correspondingly, some of the essence of yesteryear's yachting.

 

[brian eiland]

Your article brought some of that feeling back to me....some of that feeling that first inspired me to want to learn of sailing yachts and their design....that had me (virtually a non-sailor at the time) putting together a scrapbook of designs, both good and poor, for future reference.

Now it so happens that I got quite heavily involved with multihull craft because here is where free thought and innovation abounded, and here it is even tougher to create a pretty sheer line. Probably a couple of the best examples I might reference would be Peter Wormwood's 60 'Indigo' design (RunningTideYachts, Ltd. Photo Album of Design References Page 1 http://runningtideyachts.com/design-references/design-references-1.html) and a few of Peter Spronk's cats. With Spronk's designs, you would have to invoke your French observation, "you must suffer to be beautiful." I'm going to try and create a few nice looking multi-hull designs myself, and maybe in collaboration with a more artistic person than myself. My first attempt is this 65' gamefishing design sporting a rather unusual sailing rig. While the rig shape may appear strange to some, I think I got the sheer and the deckhouse lines right....

 

[jehardiman]

On the other hand it must be remembered that it is not just the sheer line, but also the camber of the deck. While many sheer lines look ok when viewed in total profile, deck camber can totally steal the eye when viewed from the dock. This is more true in boats with exposed 'shoebox' deck to hull joints. Conversely, toe rails and bulwarks can redefine and shape the perception of the sheer.

 

[philSweet]

Once you hang davits, solar panels, a dingy, pulpits, pushpits, a jug farm, a wind generator, some surf boards, bicycles, a dog, fenders and fender boards, and a small forest of winches with buckets full of line, a few miscellaneous poles, a dozen cleats, and a couple anchors - you never see it. It's like dazzle camo.

 

[tropostudio]

To add to jehardiman's comment, orthtogonal views give you only so much information. Move off-axis and account for perspective, and it all changes drastically. Reminds me of architects who get hung up on proportions of interior elevations - as if they were creating an easel painting, ignoring the actual size of the room and the occupants scale and viewing height within it.

One of the advantages of 3D CAD modeling is being able to easily preview from any angle or perspective. Takes a lot of time to do that with a pencil, unless the drafter is a particular gifted freehand illustrator, with the ability to 'see' the form in their head as they draw.

The idea that a designer using a computer can't draw an 'Stephens-beautiful' line is nonsense. Great design makes use of the tools available, and the designer decides when they think it looks good or meets practical requirements. Ideally, you get both.

 

[brian eiland]

isn't this such an inspiring design...ugly

or this

Can you imagine using fenders alongside these hulls

 

[tropostudio]

Won't need fenders, because you'll be transported on and off the helipad.

 

[brian eiland]

So you never plan on being dockside

Lets see how do you land a chopper on a sailing vessel,..and I don't see an applicable spot on the power vessel

 

[gonzo]

One of the advantages of 3D CAD modeling is being able to easily preview from any angle or perspective. Takes a lot of time to do that with a pencil, unless the drafter is a particular gifted freehand illustrator, with the ability to 'see' the form in their head as they draw.

I think that a computer screen is too small to see the design in perspective. Lofting helps by being able to walk around the lines and see how they change from different angles. Either method requires the ability to see the lines beforehand; at least to an extent. Also, CADD limits the shapes to whatever algorithms are in the program. Battens are more versatile and independent of mathematical constraints.