Yacht Design Schools

[Redbull addict]

Hi,

I'm wondering if there are any students or individuals who have some experience with either Westlawn or Macaughton schools of yacht design.

Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology

Yacht Design School, small craft, boat, naval architecture degree, correspondence, marine drafting

I'm in California with a good job so remote learning is my only option. I'm not doing this as a change in career but more of an interest that I want to pursue to learn. That being said, since I'm going to spend the money, I want it to be worthwhile, credible and educational.

I've read both websites and each seems to have their own pro's and con's which seem very obvious on the surface.

Westlawn is accredited by the distance education training council and seems very professional. Macnaughton seems more nurturing and offers pay as you go lessons.

There are other differences which I won't get in to, but I was wondering whether anyone here can add some of their own experiences.

Thanks!

[GordMay]

Westlawn is an affiliate (non-profit) of the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), and is the only distance-learning school of yacht and boat design that is state certified and nationally accredited.
Westlawn has produced some of the most successful designers in the industry, and more practicing small-craft designers than most of the other institutions in the world combined.

[dcstrng]

I did part of the Westlawn course something like thirty years ago – maybe thirty-five… The fact I didn’t finish had to do with adolescent distractions – despite the fact I was well past traditional adolescence and nothing to do with the course.

I found Westlawn to be a very good course and thorough – and in those days when marine architecture and yacht design were fomr different solar systems, it was about the only serious game in town. I had been in the mass-properties support staff in the aero-space industry, and had a pretty good basis for comparisons in rigor between Westlawn and industry… I’m sure the advent of computers (we used slide-rules; no calculators then yet either) and CAD-CAM will have overtaken the use of planimeters and the like that we used, but I still have mine along with a drawer full of manual drafting tools – which I drag out occasionally for smallish projects… Have no idea what the modern Westlawn looks like or whether it might suit you, but their reputation is solid in the extreme and well worth a second glance…

[stuartcnz]

I have no experience with either school, but I do have boats plans From Tom MacNaughton. I have had a reasonable amount of email contact and a few phone calls with him and find him very helpful and extremely knowledgeble (sp?). Tom ran Ted Brewers design courses for awhile, when he worked for him and started his own design school when Ted's courses became unavailable (I can't remember why they stopped but I'm sure that Tom would fill you in on the details if you asked him).

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by stuartcnz

Tom ran Ted Brewers design courses for awhile, when he worked for him and started his own design school when Ted's courses became unavailable (I can't remember why they stopped but I'm sure that Tom would fill you in on the details if you asked him).

Ted Brewer is about 75 years young.
At one time Ted donated time, lecturing at the Silva Bay Shipyard School.