Hull design

In an effort to better learn about boats (even though I have been around them my whole life) I have been dipping into early offshore speedboat design and how hulls performed, etc. Back then there were no computers, CAD,etc and manufacturers had separate ideas of what was a good performing hull. Many of these early designs found there way into production boats and so on. I have not had the opportunity to yet own an early boat with a "pedigree" so to say, like a Donzi, Formula, etc., but hope to at some point. I currently have a 1997 21' Chris Craft Ultra...Which aside from the name is very similar to many production boats on the market at the time. It is a stable, great riding boat, and actually quite quick for a family type runabout, topping out close to 60mph with a light load. I was wondering how hull designs within the big manufacturers (Chris Craft, Four Winns, Sea Ray) were developed in the 90s (and now for that matter) and what separated builders hull designs from one another? Kind of a tough question, but I guess I am trying to determine if design was and is just left up to a computer model and everybody pretty much has the same cookie cutter platform to work with...Seemed like by then everybody owned everybody so designs were intermixed. So, thought I'd open up the discussion and see where it goes! Rob

Re: Hull design

That's a pretty wide question.

As for Donzi, Formula, Cigarette, Apache ... they all were designed by one guy who built one, made a company, sold it went across the street and built another then repeat. So each one feature newer ideas and improvements alone the line. Some worked some didn't. Then factor in that everyone of the companies were right next to each other it's easy to see how they each developed watching each others mistakes. Changes include size, engines, engine placement, pad hulls, steps, notched transoms, and build techniques. Although it kind of seems that most of the fundamentals were worked out by Skeeter and were now being applied to bigger boats.

Other boats such as Boston Whaler, Edgewater, Everglades etc. were all designed by two guys (independent contractors not part of the companies).

As for production builders like Sea Ray, Four Winds etc I'm not sure. They mostly seemed to be working on build techniques (bad or good. some real bad) and styling. So yeah it could be just programs and styling cues not sure.

Re: Hull design

With smaller non racing hulls, and before offshore racing with names like Donzi and Formula, Glastron was the innovator and first company to develop the deep vee hull. They were copied extensively and that is why many hulls from the late 60s and 70s appear similar. Indeed, if you look at hulls, MANY look exactly like Glastron without the trademark "Glastron Swoosh."

Hydrodynamics and marine engineering would more or less dictate that a deep vee hull bottom on any hull would look essentially similar at between 18 and 22 degrees deadrise. Look back as far as the early man-o-war sailing vessels. All those hulls looked similar with minor differences in amount of sail and arms.

"Form follows function" A given hull made to perform a given task will look essentially the same as any other given hull designed to perform the same task. Minor design differences are in reality marketing hype to get you to buy their design.