Principles of Yacht Design

I have designed and built a 26 foot sloop starting 23 years ago as an amateur and helped others to complete their boats after.Right now I`m building a sailing dinghy by my own design. All this years I have compiled informations about yacht design and building technics and their evolution through the time. It`s a hobby for me but many times I felt to much uncertainty about some aspects in designing sailboats. This book is excellent to relieve you of many uncertainties by brief an well informed discussion of various aspects of yact design. The computational part is more than helpful.You won`t find informations about wing masts ,wide beam aft tendencies, but classical features are well and thouroughly discussed.

The second edition of this book is an excellent step by step guide to both power and sail design. The book is written by a professor and professional yacht designer, that provide both excellent science and practical experience. Yacht design is not a simple topic and cannot be made into childs play. THere are complex trades among stability, speed, displacement, length to beam ratios and much more. Most any boat will float if some effort is made to be sure its materials do not out weigh the hull shape displacement, but making a vessel that is safe in a seaway, speedy and efficient is another matter. I highly recommend this book after 20+ years in yacht design software development and strongly encourage the seriously interested boat designer to carefully read and try the examples for him (her) self.

Larsson and Eliasson present - in detail - the engineering and naval architecture processes that a yacht designer should use in designing a seaworthy yacht. The book presents, as an example, the design -from scratch- of a 40 ft. cruising sloop. Every aspect of yacht design is covered: hull shape, speed, friction, displacement, stability, dynamic stability, rigging, construction, interior design ergonomics, deck design, scantlings, standards, etc.Typical of an engineering book, the style is factual and dry. Some people may find it lacks the poetry of other books.Specially attractive is the presentation of formulas in separate boxes. Be prepared, however, to get acquainted with metric units, and engineering terms and formulas.This is probably the most serious book on the subject of the yacht design. The only possible deficiencies are that motor yacht design is not specifically covered, and that emphasis is placed in the design of safe cruising sailboats rather than high performance racing boats. Despite these omissions, there is no doubt this book is a MUST for anyone really interested in the subject of designing a boat, specially if it is a sailboat.

This is a very thorough and well structured book and helps a great deal in understanding the principles of boat design.

As a formerly trained naval architect, this book answers the questions about yacht design practice that were not covered in my education. In simple language, it supplies the basic knowledge of current yacht design principles in a way which most sailors will understand, yet it gives enough technical background that an engineer can put the information to use. Very good reference (I have no connection with the authors or publishers).