Drafting the wherry wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. One would think plotting numbers on a screen shouldn't be very hard, but in fact, until you get the hang of it, it is quite complicated.

I never knew about the program Auto Cad or how to use the drafting computers. It was like discovering a new frontier. The obstacles I faced were time and lack of knowledge.

E.J. had gotten lofting numbers from Strawberry Bank and created his own chart. He had gotten the measurements from the lofting board over at the Bank, and measured each point. He set the chart up like the one you see here.

Each point was represented in feet, inches, and eighths. For example look in column 2. At the very top the numbers are: 0-1-4. That is 0 feet, 1 inch, and 4/8 of an inch, or 1/2 inch. The points in those columns are the y values, or how far up to go on a certain station. In this case how far up section 2. The x values represent how far apart the stations are from the beginning of the boat. The stations are the columns on the chart going up and down. With the numbers that E.J. got we then created our own lofting board. Unfortunately, some numbers didn't flow right with the curvature we needed for the boat, so we adapted them a bit. When we changed a point we tried to record the change. We created new notes each time a point changed. The chart below(Figure 1) is almost identical to E.J's chart. Six points changed.

I took the notes, slightly changed them and put them in Auto Cad. That whole experience was interesting. I learned through a lot of trial and error and getting help. In order to place a point in the computer or to get the computer to do something, I had to think of what exactly I wanted it to do, and then think of how to tell the computer to do it. For example, if I need the point to change color, I would have to look up the command in the big reference book in order to find out how it was typed, then type it in. CHGCOL. It would change the color of the point.

So in a sense it was quite a long process, to think, look up, type, and then find out if the command did what I wanted it to do. Another example: CHGCOL changed the color of the point but USECOL meant the computer would use a color for the process. It may sound all the same, but they have different purposes. USECOL is using a color as you work. CNGCOL would only change a section or a point.

Drafting the rest of the points was simple, or at least getting simpler. The more I used the computer the more I learned how to "talk" to the computer and use it. Time went by and I had drafted half the boat: the front (stem), back (transom), and side (heights).

Now we have the wherry on some type of flat surface, either the lofting board or the drafting screen. Both are full size drawings, both are as confusing as can be unless you yourself drew out the wherry. Converting the flat points to wood was the most fun. The lofting/drafting had the actual size and angle of the boat We just had to cut it out and put it all together.

Either the lofting board or the drafting sheet holds the right information about where the points are on the boat. For example, Station 1 is the sheer line. The sheer line is the top board/plank of the boat. The measurement for that point is 1-9-0; 1 foot, 9 inches, 0 eighths ( in total 21 inches). Section one was over 55" from the beginning of the boat. Below is a sketch of where the sections fall on the drafting and lofting board.

To plot the point sheer line for section 1, I used the x and y plane. The x value was the section distance, 55". The y value was how far up on the section, 21". Now we have a pretty good idea where the point lies on paper, but on the boat it is not much different. Imagine the picture above as the side view of the boat. Each line that is vertical, (0,1,2,3,etc..) is a frame of the boat.

In the above picture, you can see three triangles, which are three frames. The triangles brace the boat for support. To find a point on the boat is much like finding a point on paper. Section 1 up 21" is the first frame you can see in the picture and the sheer line falls where the board seems to be wrapping around the boat. It is a very thin strip of wood, which starts at the beginning and wraps out of sight. That piece is sighting the sheer line for the rest of the boat.

You've just sighted the wherry. Pretty cool, huh! The class was pretty interesting in itself. I learned a lot, especially when I had to explain the transom. It so happen that when I was copying notes I mis-copied the transom measurements. The first set of numbers I copied were the transom numbers, but for the other half my eyes accidentally switched over to the next column and copied section 5's numbers. That is why the transom was not very straight in the drafting. It is all trial and error. Luckily I had to retell my information to E.J. or I would not have corrected my notes.

Drafting at first was very hard. I was always looking for help or reading the heavy Reference book, which, by the way, weighed 10 pounds. Not knowing how to use the computer at a fast rate slowed down my ability to get the project done.

As time went by, however, I did learn how to do things on my own, when to admit my faults, and when to ask for help. E.J. always said, "fix the problem not the blame." I always blamed that computer. There were so many things to know and so little time. Sometimes I thought that the computer had it out for me and just wouldn't function right. Now I know that the computer is only as smart as its user.