Technology speeds up boat-building

At 76, Jack Winninghoff may be a little slow getting down the stairs, clinging to the handrail as he inches his way to the bottom.

But when it comes to building boats, it's a different story. Though others his age are slowing down and retiring, Winninghoff is raring to go with plans to expand his Rowley-based boat-building business.

His plans for expansion wouldn't be feasible or profitable without some high-tech help _ Winninghoff uses the latest computer technology to speed up a process traditionally known to take several months.

"This impacts all facets of boat-building," winninghoff says.

Sophisticated computer programs and high-tech building materials have enabled boat-builders like Winninghoff to specialize in custom construction, producing boats made to customers' specifications.

Because it is not as efficient as mass-production, custom boat building is only now becoming economical, due to help from computerized design.

Winninghoff's company makes aluminum boats for many different types of customers, such as fishermen, fire departments, researchers and pleasure sailors. Orders for his boats come from around the country, including, on a recent day, a fire boat in his shop for repairs from Maryland and a 48-foot-long fishing boat.

Winninghoff says he spends about one year on a boat, from the beginning of the design phase to the end of construction. His shop builds about a half dozen boats per year, working on two or three at a time.

It would take even longer to build these boats in the traditional way. An old-fashioned boat-builder could spend days, even weeks, just on mathematical calculations, making sure the boat will sit in the water just right. A traditional boat-builder would normally go over the calculations time and again, making small adjustments in the effort to bring the boat to perfection.

All that work takes up precious time, before construction can even begin. And once construction begins, more changes often need to be made to the calculations, causing further delay.

But with the latest technology, those same calculations can take hours, not days. In fact, the technology used by boat-builders today evolved from the old-fashioned hand-calculating techniques.

"You can do those calculations manually, but it's very time-consuming," Winninghoff said. "We do the same thing on a computer. It saves a lot of time."

There's another advantage to computer-assisted design _ it's much more reliable than calculations done by hand.

"The computer is too stupid to make a mistake," Winninghoff jokes.

At Winninghoff's company, vice president Bill Lincoln handles the high-tech stuff. Lincoln will still use manual calculations for some things, often going back and forth between his own math and the computer program. But most of his work is done on the computer.

Sometimes, a customer will know exactly what he or she wants, and will have the know-how to design it themselves on a computer. In those cases, the customer just e-mails the design to the boat builder.

In other cases a customer will know what he wants but will need help creating the design. That's when Lincoln steps in, taking the customer's ideas and plugging them into the computer to see if it will work.

As an example, Lincoln showed the program for a boat he is working on, a 30- to 35-foot pleasure boat. The customer wants speed, but also need a special plug on board for his medical equipment. The computer will later help Lincoln add the customized features this customer needs.

First, though, Lincoln looks at boats the company has built in the past. Maybe somewhere in the computer records Lincoln can find a 30- to 35-foot pleasure boat that could be modified to fit the new customer. When he doesn't find anything suitable, Lincoln starts from scratch. He figures out how much the boat will weigh, and designs the hull. The computer helps him determine how wide and how long the boat will be.

Then the computer will show where the boat will float if built according to the specifications Lincoln has plugged in. Sometimes, a boat won't float right on the water, and adjustments will be made on the computer.

Once the design is complete, Lincoln simply e-mails it to the frame cutter and the company waits for the parts to arrive.

In the past, mistakes in calculations were uncovered during a time-consuming process of building a model to scale, which is now unnecessary and, at a place like Winninghoff's, practically obsolete.

Other mistakes in the design would traditionally be discovered during the actual building process, costing money as well as time.

Plus, computers make it possible to see what a boat will look like when it is complete. Lincoln and other boat builders use software programs that are similar to those used by architects. Measurements are plugged in, the computer makes the calculations, and soon a picture of the boat will appear on the screen. Those with the latest software can be treated to a 3-dimensional picture of the boat.

Being able to see the final product before construction even begin is a great asset to the company, Lincoln said.

"It's easier to visualize it," he said.

Lincoln says that finding right software program can be tough. It can take several months to learn a new program, only to discover it's not the right program for the company. It can also cost quite a bit to get the right computer package _ up to $15,000, which is more than a small company can afford all at once. To make it affordable for his company, Lincoln has added on piece by piece.

Lincoln, who once tried to work in a bank only to find it "fairly boring," joined the company about 10 years ago. He brought to Winninghoff a knowledge of mathematics and engineering and a love of boat-building.

The company was founded by Winninghoff in 1978, after he had tried to make a go of boat-building in Gloucester a couple of years before that. It was slow to grow, but now, more than two decades later, Winninghoff proudly says that his company has built almost 200 boats.

Even with his willingness to use technology to aid his business, Winninghoff points out that sometimes a little tradition goes a long way. He uses aluminum for all his boats, preferring the time-honored classic material for the same reasons it first became popular in boat building _ because of its strength in comparison to its light weight.

"It's stronger than any other traditional building material," Winninghoff said. "This is incredibly strong on impact. Stronger than steel, stronger than fiberglass."

No matter what material is used, or how technology is incorporated into the process, Winninghoff's enthusiasm for boat-building will only grow, he says. He loves the balance between the technical and the artistic that is necessary to produce a boat that is both beautiful and functional.

"The artistic aspect of a boat is very pleasing," Winninghoff said. "It can be a lot of fun."