would like your opinion please

**Bill Van Steenwyk** · 03-22-2012

You also might want to check with your insurance person about product or personal liability insurance. You never know how stupid folks can be till they hurt themselves in something you built or repaired and then you find everything you have worked for at risk. That is one of the benefits of an LLC. Possibly you have a friend who is a lawyer, or the internet can be a big help in this area also.

When I went in business for myself 30+ years ago, if I had known all the possible pitfalls just liability wise I might have thought twice or even more times.. Ignorance can be bliss though, at least for awhile. It is a wonder in this day and time anyone wants to take the risk anymore, even with something that seems so simple as you are thinking about.

Not in any way trying to discourage you, in fact the opposite, but it is always better to know going in to something how to prepare and protect yourself from someone doing something stupid with something you built and sold.

**Yellowjacket** · 03-23-2012

Another thought is that with a CAD model of the boat you can really do wonders in terms of getting patterns, prints and having parts cut with a CNC router or waterjet. I work with CAD every day and the things we do with it are amazing. I've modeled a D class runabout and it wasn't difficult at all. The ability to have all the pieces fit properly and easily is pretty cool. I think that you'd be crazy not to do it that way.

**david harrell** · 03-23-2012

i hear ya on the liabilaty ins. had to have it as a aub contractor.been dreading that number.it wasn't to bad for contracting but i expect it will be much worse for this. would love to work cad tied cnc. a cnc will be way to expencive for my start up budget so i will be using a hnc machine [human navigated cutter.]. lol. i will be using patterns and router in the begining. got quite good at that from my custom stair building days. keep this stuff coming guys. i'm loving it.

thanks
david

**david harrell** · 03-23-2012

i hear ya on the liabilaty ins. had to have it as a aub contractor.been dreading that number.it wasn't to bad for contracting but i expect it will be much worse for this. would love to work cad tied cnc. a cnc will be way to expencive for my start up budget so i will be using a hnc machine [human navigated cutter.]. lol. i will be using patterns and router in the begining. got quite good at that from my custom stair building days. keep this stuff coming guys. i'm loving it.

thanks
david

**david harrell** · 03-23-2012

moderator is holding my last post????

**Yellowjacket** · 03-23-2012

I had some trouble posting yesterday.. Don't know why but I doubt it's being held. I'd try to repost it.

**david harrell** · 03-23-2012

i hear ya on the ins. wasn't to bad for sub contracting but expect it will be worse with this. due to budget i will have to use hnc [human navegated cutter].lol. patterns and router. got plenty of exp with that from my custom stair building days.

**david harrell** · 03-23-2012

oh yea, definatly want to get into cad tho

**Yellowjacket** · 03-23-2012

When I was first getting started on doing things for myself in CAD I looked at a number of programs. At work I have Solid Edge, which is a good program, but costs $5k for a seat and $1200/year for maintenance. I've also used and have the Autodesk Inventor program, and it's similar to most all the others, they all take some time to learn, but once you learn one you can work any of them. The only thing at that point is using the menus.

If you are going to do it as a business you will need to make an investment in a good program.

A good friend turned me on to very inexpensive program called Design CAD Max that is actually a very good tool. It's really inexpensive ($100) for the 3d CAD system, don't bother with the 2d designer, the Max version does what you want, it's a full 3d program. Not as sexy as programs like ProE or Solidworks, but it has everything that you need and it does surfacing really well. If I was doing this as a startup I'd get that tool in a heartbeat. For a hundred bucks, you can't go wrong. I'm surprised this tool hasn't gone viral. You can do what you need to do for a pittance of what it costs for other programs.

http://imsidesign.com/Products/Desig...1/Default.aspx