Client Testimonial
Cope Aluminum Boats, Canada
By Bruce Cope

"I purchased Autostructure after using it briefly on a trial run. I needed to speed up and simplify designing the structural components in the boat hulls. I had been designing all the structural components in Autoship, and AutoCAD for many years, which worked, however was tedious work.

After going through the Autostructure tutorial (which is very well written), I started using the software immediately. So far I've designed the structural components for boats ranging from an 18ft sports-fisherman to a 37ft twin diesel cruising boat to a 25ft pilot house cruiser, and a 20ft RIB.

The ease and speed with which I can put a set of longitudinals and bulkheads into a hull and have them ready to machine cut puts a smile on my face every time.

In Autostructure you can use a library of existing shapes to extrude longitudinals, or you can draw your own, as I did.

In Autostructure most operations are menu driven, i.e. you put in bulkheads by calling up the appropriate menu, supplying the information required (location, thickness etc.) and ZAP-there's your bulkhead all trimmed to the hull with the appropriate cutouts for any longitudinals, girders etc. that you previously put in the hull.

The big speed advantage that I see in Autostructure is that you don't have to draw and trim components, you merely specify what you want, and where you want it, and the program does it instantly.

If you want to edit a frame or bulkhead you have placed in the hull, you can do that easily as well. The editing process is done in an AutoCAD environment and is really straightforward.

Putting flanges on bhds or frames is a snap, and is fast as is putting in openings or marks for etching when the part is cut.

In the 3D viewer you can see exactly how all the parts fit together, and pick out interferences that will cause problems on the shop floor.

Using Autostructure has speeded up drawing internal parts by at least 60 or 70%, and I'm by no means as proficient as I intend to be with another 5 or 6 projects under my belt.

I talk to the boatbuilders that assemble the boats I design, and all the feedback on the fitup of the parts is positive. I talk to the guys on the floor, not the guys in the office, and believe me, if there are any problems I hear about them!

Basically the parts fit perfectly-end of story.

The photographs I've supplied are of a 37ft twin diesel cruising boat I designed for Coastal Craft (in Gibsons BC Canada). All the boats I've designed for them (6 hull models) have been done in Autoship and (lately) also in Autostructure.

The developable surface hull was designed in Autoship. Within the hulls, all parts were designed in Autostructure, except the engine beds and two short sections of channel section that fit under the engine. The builder added the thruster tunnel during construction. In a design underway I'm drawing the tube and trimming the plates to suit.

Coastal Craft does a beautiful job of building these designs and they appreciate the quality and consistency they are able to achieve using CNC parts.

Thanks to Coastal Craft for permission to use the vessel photographs."