Ocean Engineering 26 (1999) 891904

Development of BOATDSS high speed boat design database

J.M. Vasconcellosa,b,*, R. Latorreb
b

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 911 Engineering Building, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148, USA Received 6 March 1997; accepted 19 June 1997

Abstract Yachts and recreational boats have been growing in popularity throughout the world. In the United States alone they have a 2% annual growth rate. This growth has created the market for new boats built with improved hull materials and new hull forms, propulsion motors and fabrication techniques. With this growth in boat designs and technology developments, it is useful to examine the current trends in pleasure boat design. This paper addresses the development and utilization of a relational pleasure boat database BOATDSSBoat Decision Support System. The BOATDSS database contains the data on 850 boat designs. The Decision Support System portion of the BOATDSS is organized to use this data for decision support such as a buyer shopping or a builder examining the potential of a new boat entering the present boat market. Several results from BOATDSS are presented to illustrate its use during the conception and preliminary design of recreational boats. 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Boat design; Powerboats; Yacht design

Nomenclature B Cv Disp g beam speed coefcient displacement gravity

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 1 504 280 7180; fax: 1 504 280 5542.
0029-8018/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 0 2 9 - 8 0 1 8 ( 9 7 ) 0 0 0 3 4 - 6

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L V Wt

length speed boat weight

1. Introduction Yachts and pleasure boats are unique in their mass production and marketing. A visitor to a boat show will see sailboats, motor boats, outboard engines and accessories being sold through a well developed factory and dealership network. This approach differs signicantly from the traditional custom ship design and shipyard production of single and multiple vessels. The economics of the yacht and pleasure boat markets are also different. The market has grown to such a size that it resembles the large worldwide consumer markets in electronics, automobiles and household goods. This situation makes the development of powerboat design a complex problem. The technical requirements of boat size, weight, power and speed are intermixed with the consumers needs for quality of the boat nish and accessories as well as its price. As a consequence there are a number of important parameters which must be properly selected. These parameters often determine whether a particular boat will market well or poorly. Since boats can be manufactured in many parts of the world, there is an international dimension in developing a boat for the market. The boat designer needs access to current and projected boat trends and consumer needs. Boat designers use a number of sources. These include boat market surveys published in popular magazines, boat brochures and specications, as well as yearly surveys of different boat designs, (Darrell, 1995). Recreational boat design itself is well documented. There are a number of PCbased boat design packages as well as the design papers of Clement and Blount (1963); Savitsky (1964); Hadler (1966) and more recently Calkins (1983), and the boat design reference by Payne (1990) and the two volume set presently being prepared by SNAME. Calkins (1983) describes a recreational boat design synthesis computer program using 10 design and analysis modules. The authors experience in teaching NAME 4151 Small Craft Design is that students tend to spend a large part of their semester design project in collecting information. To streamline this design project work the authors focused on characterizing the present US recreational motor boats. This was completed in a three-part study: Part ICharacterization of US recreational boats Part IIUnderstanding the reasons for the large mass produced US boat with outboard motor. Part IIIDevelopment of BOATDSS. Powerboat database to resolve several boat design issues. This paper summarizes the results of this three-part study. Over the past 2 years BOATSSD has been used resulting in a number of interesting points. There is a large amount of scatter in the database results. This scatter often reects the impact

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of consumer needs in the boat design. In some cases, a high speed boat using an older hull design tted with a large engine is marketed against a newer hull design which runs at the same speed with a smaller engine. This is an illustration of intermixing of technical and economic factors in US boat marketing.

2. Characterization of US recreational boats and mass-produced boats with outboard motors under 8 m Estimates of the current US recreational boat population range between 10 and 15 million craft. The 1993 boat registration compiled by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (Anon., 1993) indicates there are 11 million boats in the USA. This boat population is experiencing a 2% yearly growth. Like the early Model T and Model A, these craft have been sized and standardized to market to a large segment of the US population. Fig. 1 shows the 10 largest US states ranked by recreational boat registration. Reviewing this data helps to explain why there is such a large mass production of boats with outboard motors in the USA. Over 47% of recreational boats are registered in the midwest states of the USA. In the midwest, Michigan leads with close to a million boats followed by Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois. The boating in this region, like New York, is seasonal and requires the boats lay-up during the winter. This winter lay-up is in contrast to the nearly all-year boating in California, Florida and South Carolina. The winter lay-up results in the boats being pulled out and stored for 34 winter

Fig. 1.

Top 10 US states ranked by recreational boat registration (Anon., 1993).

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months. This is easily achieved when the boat is sized under 8.5 m (26 ft) and trailered behind an automobile. In smaller boats the maximization of hull space occurs when the boat is powered by an outboard motor. This is illustrated by the nearly 9 to 1 ratio of boats with outboard motors to boats with inboard motors under 5.25 m (16 ft). The outboard engine is used for 89% of these boats. Between 5.25 and 8.5 m (1626 ft), the outboard engine drops to 52% of the boats in this size range. Above 8.5 m (26 ft), boats with inboard motors represent more than 75% of these large boats. The other consumer requirement is that the recreational boats should be low maintenance. This has resulted in the majority of recreational boats being built in either berglass/composite materials and aluminum/steel as shown in Fig. 3. Fiberglass boats represent 54% of the hull material used in US boats. These three gures developed from the National Marine Manufacturers Association (Anon., 1993) data support the 7 m (22 ft) or less US recreational boat design criteria in Table 1 and Figs. 2 and 3.

3. The BOATDSS database for boats of (6.022.5) m length The main goal in developing BOATDSS was to store conveniently the larger boat (6.022.5 m) design information in a PC database for student project work. The database information on motor boats and yacht designs has been used for several projects. The projects include boat market survey, comparison of a specic boat type, and developing design trends as part of the preliminary boat design. The BOATDSS (boat decision support system) was developed using information from a number of published sources on US recreational boats. It was initially begun as a NAME 4151 project by N. Engles and was subsequently expanded into an ACCESS relational database. In its present format, BOATDSS has 850 boats with lengths between 6.5
Table 1 Evolution of US recreational boat design criteria for boats up to 7 m US boat situation (a) 47% of boats are seasonal Criteria I. II. (b) Consumer needs: Low maintenance III. IV. Ability to lay-up in winter Ease in launch-retrieval Low maintenance hull construction Separation of hull and engine Design requirements 1. Small size L 8.5 m 2. Trailerable 3. Outboard Motor 4. Mass-produced berglass or aluminum hull 5. Battery for electric system

Ease of repair Flexibility of speed

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Fig. 2.

Distribution of inboard/outboard propelled boats arranged by boat length (Anon., 1993).

Fig. 3.

Distribution of materials in US recreational boats (Anon., 1993).

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and 22.5 m (2070 ft). The majority of the boats are the larger craft which have sleeping accommodation. Over 750 boats (90%) have berglass hull and deck construction. Table 2 presents a breakdown of design features of the hull form and propulsion systems used in these 6.522.5 m (2070 ft) boats. This table summarizes the technical features in current US recreational boats. Since the boats can be congured with a number of propulsion packages, about 20% of the boat designs were reported without specifying a propulsion package. The sterndrive represented the largest propulsion package with 35.2%, followed by the inboard with 26.3%. Over 50.5% of the hulls use a deep V and 39% use a modied V hull form. In spite of its popularity overseas, the catamaran represents only 11 designs or 1.2% of the boats in the database. This small percentage of catamaran boat designs is expected to increase with time.

4. Project results using the BOATDSS database With the availability of the BOATDSS, a number of projects were completed to characterize current US powerboat designs. These projects resulted in the development of several powerboat design aids similar to Table 2, as well as a series of design graphs. It became evident that in only a few cases was the data complete enough to use all of the 850 boat designs. Typically, a sub-group of the BOATDSS database designs were used in the project work. In time the database use resembled that of a camera with a zoom lens. The smaller the subgroup the more precise the design data would appear. In many situations the database requires more entries to provide a better result. This is an important point since it means the entire database project must be periodically up-dated. Fig. 4 shows the distribution by length between 6 and 23 m (1870 ft) of 608 powerboat designs. Nearly 49% of the designs fall below 8.2 m (25 ft) length which agrees with the results shown in Fig. 2. At the same time advances in berglass construction and nancing have made the larger cabin cruisers in the range of 8.2
Table 2 BOATDSS database hull design and propulsion distribution for 850 boats with lengths of 6.522.5 m Engine type distribution (%) Outboard Sterndrive 16.6 35.2 Fuel distribution (%) Inboard 26.3 I/O 1.3 Water jet 0.2 Undened 20.4

Gasoline 46.4 Hull type Displacement 0.4 Semi-displ. 3.3 Modied-V 39 Deep-V 50.5

Diesel 17.4 Catamaran 1.2

Undened 36.2 Pontoon 0.7

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Fig. 4.

Distribution of powerboat length in BOATDSS database.

to 13 m (2540 ft) available to buyers throughout the USA. This is an important point since these powerboats offer many design challenges and rewards. Fig. 5 shows the distribution of powerboat cruising speed for a sub-group of 320 boat designs. The cruising speed falls within 1065 mph. This graph shows that the majority of the powerboats operate in the range of 3035 mph, which is usually quoted in most of the powerboat literature. The top end of 90100 mph reects the cigarette boats which are very popular in Florida. Returning to the study of powerboat length, a follow-on study of the 603 boats was completed to determine their fuel capacity. Fig. 6 shows the distribution of fuel tank capacity in gallons. The majority of the boats operate with their fuel tanks sized for 100200 gallons, which is adequate for a short harbor to harbor or weekend cruise. In weight-sensitive powerboat hull designs, tuning the amount of fuel carried can often result in a higher cruising speed. Fig. 7 presents a graph of boat hull weight vs. boat length for a sub-group of 593 boat designs. The boat weight Wt equation was developed in English units using the BOATDSS data giving: Wt (lbs) 599 L: boat length (ft). There is a large amount of scatter in the results of Fig. 7. This scatter reects the impact of consumer needs on boat design. In some cases the heavier boat requires a larger engine while the lower weight boats runs at nearly the same speed using a e0.0796L (1)

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Fig. 5.

Distribution of powerboat cruising speed in miles per hour in BOATDSS database.

Fig. 6.

Distribution of powerboat fuel capacity in gallons in BOATDSS database.

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Fig. 7. Regression of powerboat hull weight to hull weight for 7 L 23 m (20 L 80 ft) using BOATDSS database.

smaller, lighter engine. This scatter also illustrates the typical intermix of technical and economic factors in US boat marketing. In teaching powerboat design it is possible to develop designs which operate at different speeds but are essentially the same design simply scaled. The speed coefcient Cv is often used to characterize the operating speed of different powerboat designs. C V gB B: beam g: gravity V: velocity Using the speed coefcient Cv and hull type scheme in Table 3, it is possible to plot the hull type as either semi-displacement or planing hulls. This is shown in Fig. 8 for a sub-group of 260 powerboats between 6.5 and 26 m (2080 ft). The higher (2)

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Table 3 Recreational boat hull design and recommended operating speed range Operating range Displacement Semi-displacement Planning Cv 0.5 0.51.5 1.5

Fig. 8. Characterization of powerboat hull form using speed coefcient Cv for 7 L 23 m (20 L 80 ft) using BOATDSS database.

speed required in todays boat market results in the majority of the boats being planing hulls either deep V or modied V, as indicated earlier in Table 2. From such cross-checks it is possible to eliminate mistakes in the published data and the data-base entry. The boat price data is the most used parameter in the BOATDSS database. Initially a number of projects developed equations using the boat length L as the main design parameter. Fig. 9 shows the price for boats between 6.5 and 20 m (2060 ft). The line in Fig. 9 was tted using the sub-group 11.514.75 m (3545 ft) cabin cruisers. The resulting equation for these boats is Price $ 2835.4 e0.1155L (3)

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Fig. 9. Characterization of powerboat price for 7 L 23 m, (20 L 80 ft) using BOATDSS database.

L: boat length, 35 L 45 ft. After a number of trials it was found that a multiple regression including boat length L, boat beam B, displacement, and boat speed V resulted in an accurate price estimating equation. This type of equation is used in the following example.

5. BOATDSS application to technical-marketing decisions Many countries throughout the world have levied large import taxes on pleasure boats in an effort to develop their national boat-building industry. Typically, the cost of building a local boat must be compared with the price of importing a new or second-hand US built boat. This was examined in detail in the Boatbuilder AA Project. Boatbuilder AA is in a country which imports new and second-hand US boats. The import tax is 50% for new to 5-year-old boats. It is reduced to 20% for boats

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older than 5 years. Boatbuilder AA wants to build and sell a new 13.1 m (40 ft) cruiser (L 13.1 m, B 3.93 m, V 25 mph) outtted with all the necessary facilities. Boatbuilder AA knows that his boats quality is below the US standard. So he is thinking of selling his 13.1 m cruiser at an attractive price, say 20% less than an equivalent new US boat. In this project, the BOATDSS is used to help the builder prepare a technical market plan. 5.1. Current 13.1 m cruiser price In order for Boatbuilder AA to determine the new and second-hand US boat prices, it is necessary to have a reliable price estimate. A multiple regression analysis based on the cruiser length (L), beam (B), cruising speed (V) and displacement (Disp), was completed using the BOATDSS design data. This resulted in the following US boat price equation (units L, B in ft, V in knots, Disp in lbs): Price ($) 13542 L 23168 B, 9494 V 7.2 Disp 904208 (4)

For L 13.1 m, B 3.93 m, V 25 mph (L 40, B 12.25, V 25 mph, Disp 14000): the estimated price of a new boat is $262 180 from Eq. (4). 5.2. Domestic vs. imported second-hand US boat The Boatbuilder AA 13.1 m cruiser has a base price of 80% the equivalent US boat before importation. The actual price differential is 70% of the US price when the 50% import tax on new boats is considered. However, the domestic market in Boatbuilder AAs homeland is mostly secondhand US boats, so Boatbuilder AA will be selling his domestic 13.1 m cruiser to a boater who would otherwise buy a second-hand (older than 5 years) US imported cruiser. The new boat price can be converted to an equivalent second-hand price by depreciating the new boat price at the current rate of 56% per year. Normally, most of the second-hand US boats are then sold by their 10th year. Fig. 10 shows the market position of Boatbuilder AA with his domestic cruiser priced at 80% the equivalent price of a new US 13.1 m cruiser. By pricing his boat at 80%, Boatbuilder AA can expect to offer an attractive price compared with new and second-hand imported US boats up to 8 years old. Fig. 10 shows that using different depreciation rates of 5 and 6% a year results in a small price adjustment, but the Boatbuilder AA domestic market situation for the 13.1 m cruiser is relatively unchanged.

6. Conclusion This paper has discussed the complexity of recreational boat-building and marketing in the USA and overseas. US recreational boats are popular in regions where

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Fig. 10. Illustration of BOATDSS output comparing new and used 12.5 m (40 ft) boat prices to evaluate an overseas market development.

they can be used during the spring, summer and fall. During the winter they must lay-up. The consequence of this situation is the large number of small trailerable boats with outboard motors in lengths up to 8 m. The consumer requirement for low maintenance boats has also resulted in the majority of the boats being built of berglass and aluminum. There is a large scatter in the design data obtained in the BOATDSS database. This reects the interplay of consumer and technical requirements, which result in heavier boats using large engines compared with a more modern craft using a lighter hull and smaller engine. The different projects using the BOATDSS have provided a number of interesting conclusions related to the size, speed and cost of these powerboats. 1. Nearly 49% of the powerboat designs in the CATDSS database fall below 8.2 m (25 ft).

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2. The majority of powerboats in the CATDSS database operate in the range of 30 35 mph. 3. The majority of the craft use deep V or modied V planing hull forms as evidenced by direct reporting and the speed coefcient Cv classication. 4. There is a large scatter in the reported boat price which reects a number of marketing approaches and outt. This scatter becomes large as the boat length increases. Finally, the results of the Boatbuilder AA project were presented to show how an overseas boatbuilder can price his 13.1 m cruiser to market well against second-hand imported US boats. The main benet of the BOATDSS database is its usefulness in assisting students to develop their projects in a timely manner.

Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the assistance of Visiting Professor X. Kuo, PRC, and Mr Nick Engles, who assisted in the initial BOATDSS database development.

References
Anon., 1993. Boating Registration Statistics. National Marine Manufacturers Association, New York. Calkins, D.E., 1983. An interactive computer-aided design synthesis program for recreational powerboats. Transactions SNAME 91, 4987. Clement, E., Blount, D., 1963. Resistance tests of a systematic series of planing hull forms. Transactions SNAME 71, 491579. Darrell, K., 1995. New boat directory. Motor Boating and Sailing Dec., 3285. Hadler, J.B., 1966. The prediction of power performance of planning craft. Transactions SNAME 74, 563610. Savitsky, D., 1964. Hydrodynamic design of planing hulls. Marine Technology 1, 7195. Payne (1990) please provide ref. or delete from text