Contact: Caroline Chetelat at ABYC
(410) 990-4460,
x22
cchetelat@abycinc.org
Westlawn Institute and PassageMaker
Magazine Announce Design Competition
Challenge to Craft an Efficient Cost-Effective Cruiser To
Advance Boating
Sponsored by Imtra Marine Lighting
October 1, 2008,
Annapolis, MD: The Westlawn
Institute of Marine Technology is pleased to announce a new design competition
in conjunction with PassageMaker
magazine (PMM), and sponsored by Imtra
Marine Lighting, with matching funds from ABYC. The contest is similar to Westlawn’s
sailboat design competitions of the past, with the difference that this
challenge aims to find a new trawler design that is cruising capable,
affordable, and economical for a couple on a budget to operate.

Nordic Tug 42
designed by Westlawn alumnus Lynn Synour
For this competition, we
profile the following fictional couple in search of a particular boat: Jane and
Bob are in their mid-40s, and looking to take some time to go cruising in
between other life commitments. They have a 5-year-old chocolate Lab, Bart, who
loves the water and loves being aboard boats. Jane and Bob got serious about
boating in college. Jane was on the varsity crew team at Villanova University,
and Bob raced Lightnings at the University of Washington and later on Lake
Michigan. Jane’s parents, in their
later years, cruised New England aboard their Chris-Craft, and the family has many
fond memories of Block Island, Cape Cod, and Florida’s Biscayne
Bay. The boat they seek is one that
intentionally compromises on luxury and amenities to achieve a desirable level
of affordability and economy of operation.

Trawler catamaran sections by Westlawn student Livu-Eduard
Armeanu
To give Jane and Bob the
boat of their dreams, we have settled on the following criteria for the design
contest. The winning boat must sort through the many issues of vessel
construction and integrity in a world of $6-a-gallon diesel. While
affordability and economy are subjective terms, to be sure, the winning
design(s) will interpret these factors in realistic yet creative ways and will
provide a design that a boatbuilder could produce for this market.

Motor cruiser lines by Westlawn student Will Allison
The following criteria are presented as critical in this competition:
- The design must be a powerboat capable
of extended cruising in coastal and inland waters, such as the Great Circle
Route and the Inside Passage to Southeast Alaska, as well as
tropical cruising in the Caribbean and Mexico. Inland
waterways will include bridges.
- The boat must be seaworthy but is not
intended to cross oceans and therefore does not require the long range
needed for such passages.
- The ergonomics of the vessel must be
suitable for the crew: Jane is 5 feet 5 inches, Bob is 6 foot 2, and Bart
weighs in at 65 lb. Basic tasks, such as moving around the boat under way
and getting safely on and off in an anchorage or at a dock, are vital.
Judges will look at such elements as handholds, railings, and other safety
factors in the overall design. Dinghy storage and handling will also be
reviewed.
- The design may have one or more hulls
and may be traditional, modern, or radical.
- Length is not specified, but the
winning design will offer adequate living spaces for the couple to live
and cruise for extended periods (up to several months’ duration) within
the constraints of construction affordability. The couple’s cruising plans
do not require long-term self-sufficiency; it is expected that provisions
and other supplies will be generally available.
- The designer must include a clear
mission statement that explains the design spiral and how the requirements
are met, all of which carry equal weight. The maximum length of this
statement is 1,000 words.
- In addition to the above, the designer
must include general specifications (LOA, beam, draft, displacement, D/L
ratio, air draft), deck plans, arrangement plan, inboard profile, and at
least four joiner cross sections, with at least one construction section
at midships. Hull lines also are required.
- Drawings must be submitted to scale as
either manual drawings or CAD files. CAD files may be submitted on CD,
either in AutoCAD DWG or DXF format, and must be finished 2D drawings (not
3D files) ready to print. Print size is to be set up for paper no wider
than 24 inches (609mm). Renderings must be submitted in JPEG or TIFF
format. Manual drawings must be no larger than “E” size (36 by 48 inches;
914 by 1,219mm).
- Do not send original drawings.
Drawings will not be returned.
- The design must not have been
previously built or published elsewhere, other than in preview form on a
designer’s website, before PMM’s announcement of the winner(s) in the
September 2009 issue.
- No more than two designs may be
submitted by any one entrant.
- The design remains the sole
intellectual property of the designer, however, by submitting the design
for this contest the designer grants PassageMaker & Westlawn Institute
the right to publish the design as submitted for the purposes of this
competition.
- The competition is open to all except
employees of Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology, the American Boat
& Yacht Council, or Dominion Enterprises, and their family members.
To enter, mail your design entry to:
PassageMaker Design
Competition
Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology
613
Third St., Suite 10
Annapolis, MD 21403 USA
All
entries must be postmarked no later than May 15, 2009.
The judges will be top designers and powerboat experts. They will judge entries
in:
- The design’s potential success and
utility as a cruising boat;
- How well the design meets the mission
statement;
- Beauty (classic, modern, or
ultramodern) and innovation (whether in a modern or traditional design);
- Ease of handling, comfort, and safety.
All criteria will have equal weight. The
judges will select a group of 10 or 12 finalists from all entries. From the
final group, one winner and up to four honorable mentions will be chosen. The
wining design will be featured in an article concluding the competition, along
with the honorable mentions designs. The winner will also receive their choice
of either a $2,000 scholarship to Westlawn or a $1,000 cash prize.

Victory Tug
designed by Westlawn alumnus Jim Backus
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Founded in 1930, the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology is
the only nationally accredited and state-certified distance-learning school of
small-craft design in the United States. As the not-for-profit educational affiliate of the American Boat and Yacht Council, the mission of
the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology is threefold:
■ To provide our students with the skills and knowledge
required to build a rewarding career in the profession of yacht and small-craft
naval architecture.
■ To support continued growth of the
recreational and small-craft marine community through the development of
well-trained, safety-oriented, boat designers developing better products for
the benefit of the boating public.
■ To provide continuing education to marine-industry
professionals.
To learn more about
Westlawn, please call (860) 572-7900 or visit the Westlawn website at: www.westlawn.edu.