gjoyce asks:

Where do you see hull design - shapes, materials, coatings,
propulsion, etc. - going in the near - and not so near - future?

That's like asking Ferrari what they will be doing aerodynamically on their
next Formula One car. Or asking Ford what the next Focus will look like.
Good luck, though ;-)

Steve
Stephen C. Baker - Yacht Designer
http://members.aol.com/SailDesign/pr...cbweb/home.htm

ospam (Stephen Baker) wrote in message ...
gjoyce asks:

Where do you see hull design - shapes, materials, coatings,
propulsion, etc. - going in the near - and not so near - future?

That's like asking Ferrari what they will be doing aerodynamically on their
next Formula One car. Or asking Ford what the next Focus will look like.
Good luck, though ;-)

Steve
Stephen C. Baker - Yacht Designer
http://members.aol.com/SailDesign/pr...cbweb/home.htm

Steve,

I dunno. Is it really going to be that radically different? There are
limits to weight loss, the multihull thing is where it is (would MORE
hulls make a diff? then drag) ... I know there is work being done on
hull coatings insofar as critter adhesion, but are there hull coatings
that will release surface tension like a dolphin's skin? ...is "skin"
an option? ...

I'm just wondering ... beyond foils (and even that ...can a hull BE a
foil? ..rather than having outrigger foils) ...

if Michaelangelo was designing hang gliders in the 15th century, I
figured some of you guys who actually know this stuff must have SOME
ideas for what "could" be ... given material strengths, etc. ... Can a
boat be a disc ...can disc plane, can it float.. ya-dah, ya-dah,
ya-dah ...

Just going for discussion ..

Gary