Cross Section Blue Prints

Being geekly is wonderful. Seriously- if you haven't tried it, break out the inner pocket protector-itude and give it a shot. As I laid out the cross sections for Paige's Sea Flea, I couldn't help but think that I could layout the cross sections in Visio. I knew that the large-format printing would be an issue, but I gave it a shot for grins and giggles.
(The "T" in the picture is for Tom Yost. We had a "Y" too, but it didn't turn out as well.)

Layout in Visio 2007

To do this in Visio 2007, I started a new drawing using metric units. For simplicity in the math- I used the lower-left corner (coordinates: 0, 0) as my center and baseline. This means that all of the Y (vertical) points matched the height at baseline (HAB) values. The X (horizontal) points matched the left and right points of the half breadth (HB) values; negative values were to the left of the center line and positive values were to the right.

To make things simpler, I sketched out a form and drew intersection horizontal and vertical lines through it. On the left-size/vertically, I drew in the HAB/Y distances. Along the bottom, I wrote in HB/X distances. Using this, it was easy to draw each line. The start of the first line's X point was at 0 (the paper edge) and the height (Y) was at the HAB for the keel. This line ended with the X/Y of the chine's HB/HAB. The next line started from here and is drawn to the gunwale's HB/HAB. For the deck ridge, if there is only a HAB provided, then the HB coordinate would be zero (0). Once you've done one side, you can either continue using the measurements/coordinates for the other; OR- you can copy & paste the lines and then flip it horizontally.

For precise placement, I used the "Size & Shape" window in Visio-- this allows you to enter the exact millimeter coordinates into the X/Y positions.

To draw in the locations of the stringers, I used the square and rectangle tools. In the Size & Shape window, you can put in the inches units and Visio converts it for you. Then it's a matter of dragging it to the correct location and rotating it as needed. If you zoom in, you can get much finer rotation to get the lines to line up.

For the curves, I used some trickery, but I essentially used the "Line-curve connector". You draw it from the starting point to the ending point and then are able to drag the middle to the desired arc of the curve. For me, I used a temporary square placed in the middle to properly measure the 1/2" the curve should be inset.

For the internal cut-out area, I used a set of appropriately sized blocks (1 1/2" at the top and 1" on the sides & bottom). I then drew out the internal area using the line tool.

How to Print

Most printers will print 8 1/2" x 14" without issue; some printers will go up to 11" x 17". A handful will print larger than that-- in fact, I'm lucky enough that my work has a plotter that will print 22"-wide on a roll of paper. Still, I wanted to go larger and Visio was there to support me. It had paper sizes of 22" x 34" and 34" x 44". I found that the Sea Flea fit nicely on a 22" x 36" sheet of paper and that the Sea Tour 17R fit onto a 34" x 44" with no problems. My quest was to find somewhere that could handle the printing of these (inexpensively!). I found that Staples will print a black & white blueprint at 24" x 36" for $2.99 and a 36" x 48" for $4.99. By using the "Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS Add-in for 2007 Microsoft Office programs", I was able to generate PDFs of the Visio diagrams. I used Staples online interface to upload the PDFs and specified that I'd pick up the prints the next morning. There was an option to "Scale the file to fit the paper" to which I said NO. And, spastically, I added a note that the files were smaller in size and should not be scaled. I went to the Staples store armed with my ruler and list of offsets; I double-checked a few of the measurements and found that they were correct.

What's next...

The next step was to cut out the forms from the paper, transfer them to plywood and cut them out. But, I'm getting ahead of myself for this post.

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• Sea Flea 11 - Cross Sections Blueprints on 22" x 34" paper
• Sea Tour 17R - Cross Sections Blueprints on 34" x 44" paper

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