Professional Diploma Program in Yacht & Boat Design

Module 1
Principles of Yacht & Boat Design

Lesson One - Introduction To Yacht & Boat Design
Introduces beginning students to the boatbuilding industry and to the designer's place in the industry. The course also discusses the Design Spiral and the basic physical laws which govern flotation and propulsion. Lesson One concludes with a brief introduction to preliminary sketching.

Lesson Two - Basic Mathematics
Reviews basic mathematics needed to solve many of the yacht design problems that will be encountered in other lessons. Topics include significant figures, fractions, percentage, ratio and proportion, basic elements of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, systems of measurement and measuring instruments.

Lesson Three - Introduction To Hydrostatics
The study of upright displacement and other aspects of hull form which are related to static flotation. Topics include the meaning of a set of hull lines, calculation of displacement using Simpson's Rule, the Trapezoidal Rule, the Center of Buoyancy, Wetted Surface, and Coefficients of Form. Students will also learn to perform weight studies and locate the Center of Gravity of a vessel.

Lesson Four - Review
Yacht design is a complex subject involving the study of a number of disciplines; the naval architecture and marine engineering of small craft, and boat and yacht construction, as well as yacht design. This lesson reinforces the concepts in Lessons One, Two and Three.

Lesson Five - Principles Of Resistance
Lesson Five examines resistance and discusses ways to minimize its effects. Topics include fluid dynamics, flow characteristics, the boundary layer, frictional resistance and residual resistance.

Lesson Six - Stability Part I
The principles of transverse stability are covered in Lesson Six. Students will gain an understanding of how a boat resists heeling and rolling in response to external forces. Hull characteristics that contribute or detract from a vessel's operational or ultimate stability are examined. Mechanisms involved in transverse metacentric stability and dynamic stability are discussed, and students learn to calculate initial stability and stability at large angles of heel.

Lesson Seven - Design Practicum
In this lesson, students continue the study of preliminary sketching. Methods of analyzing useable space in order to develop a sense of form and proportion are examined. The design exercise in this lesson is typical of the type of problem that a staff designer might be required to help solve. This practicum gives students a chance at working out solutions to a specific design problem by means of preliminary sketching. Students are required to employ a segment of the design spiral to solve a typical design office problem and explore several alternatives in order to arrive at the best solution.

Lesson Eight - Stability Part 2
Longitudinal stability, the effects of adding or removing weight, and the effects of ballasting are examined in this lesson. Methods for locating the Center of Flotation and problems involving change in trim are also examined.

Lesson Nine - Review
Reinforces and expands the concepts learned in several previous lessons

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Lesson Ten- Introduction to Marine Drafting
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of marine drafting. The conventions used in marine drafting are discussed and instruction for the proper use of drafting instruments is given. This lesson includes practical exercises designed to help students quickly develop the skills needed for graphic presentation.

Lesson Eleven - Drawing Of Lines
In Part 1 of this lesson, students learn how to describe boat hulls by orthographic projection. Topics include hull form, preparation of preliminaries, the use of waterlines, sections, buttocks, diagonals, and the fairing process. Practical applications include the preparation of a complete set of lines and offsets and a set of hydrostatic calculations based on the faired lines.

Lesson Twelve - Module I Examination
This comprehensive examination tests the student's ability to solve practical problems in hydrostatics, draw a preliminary set of hull lines based on established criterion, and prepare a finished set of hull lines and offset table based on the preliminary work-up.