Even today, it’s not all computer based design. There is still a place for sketches and sharing of ideas on paper to kick around thoughts on how best to build a structure that is strong enough to meet regulatory requirements, has space for everything that needs to packaged in the right place and still provide access while the boat is being operated and maintained
An example is cockpit width required for the pilot plus the space required to insulate him/her from the engine. The cockpit outer body area had to be increased slightly once the first pass interior calculations were carried out – which led to one of the 17 iterations of the basic shape to get to where we are now.
We’ve known James Morton since GForce days and the build of ThrustSSC. His design experience on F1, Indycars and LeMans cars means that he knows how important it is to have a parts inventory with weights, measures, material types and function. He is working with Fredi Tischauser to make sure we have all this sorted before we put build plans in place. Fredi has extensive aerospace structural design experience which he is using to carry out the computer based structural design.
It may start with paper but it ends up on the design computers.
