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11-27-2020, 06:31 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
City: Vancouver Rowing Club, Coal Harbour, Vancouver, B.C.
Vessel Name: Summer Wind 1
Vessel Model: Marine Trader 41
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 410
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Drawing programs
I'm looking for a simple drawing program to draw out my battery, inverter and alternator wiring connections. I have used Smart Draw in the past and I can allways draw it by hand, which I will do to start with. but I was looking for simple suggestions.
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11-27-2020, 07:14 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
City: La Conner, WA
Vessel Name: Carousel
Vessel Model: Bayliner 4788 (1998)
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 249
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You might want to check out OpenOffice. It has a fairly sophisticated drawing program with a bit of a learning curve, but the price is right.
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11-27-2020, 10:16 PM
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#3
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Guru
City: Southport, FL near Panama City
Vessel Name: FROLIC
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II since 2015. GB-42 1986-2015. Former Unlimited Tonnage Master
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,977
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It is clunky, but Excel can be used. I did it with my battery drawing including some pasted in battery and switch photos from the web.
__________________
Rich Gano
FROLIC (2005 MainShip 30 Pilot II)
Panama City area
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11-27-2020, 10:43 PM
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#4
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Guru
City: Quebec
Vessel Name: Bleuvet
Vessel Model: Custom Built
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 4,374
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Depending of what to expect to do.
If you jus want to draw lines and boxes something as simple as online tool google draw will make it.
If you want a tool for drafting electrical diagram specifically (meaning with helpers like electronic/electric diagramming figures) you can find a bunch on google, some free.
Beyond this you have standard tools like Visio that can be used too.
L
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11-28-2020, 02:54 AM
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#5
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Senior Member
City: Guntersville, Al
Vessel Name: StarLite
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II - 2003
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 413
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11-28-2020, 07:04 AM
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#6
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Guru
City: Annapolis
Vessel Name: Ranger
Vessel Model: 58' Sedan Bridge
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 7,068
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grahamdouglass
I'm looking for a simple drawing program to draw out my battery, inverter and alternator wiring connections. I have used Smart Draw in the past and I can allways draw it by hand, which I will do to start with. but I was looking for simple suggestions.
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Power Point can work OK for that...
-Chris
__________________
Chesapeake Bay, USA
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11-28-2020, 07:05 AM
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#7
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Guru
City: Looking
Vessel Name: --
Vessel Model: Between boats
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,190
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I have used Visio since it fit, and was delivered, on a 5-1/4" DOS floppy disc.
It has a bit of a learning curve, but it can do just about anything you need in 2D. I usually buy the previous version on ebay for cheap.
All of the below done with Visio. As you can see, it can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. It also does a good job of measuring relative dimensions and allowing you to visualize them.
Lots of online forums, help, and templates/add-ons available.
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11-28-2020, 07:55 AM
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#8
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Veteran Member
City: Montreal
Vessel Name: Stinkpot
Vessel Model: 1985 Hatteras MY 48 - 6V92TA
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 56
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I was recommended Proficad but didn't try it. I'm a mac user and it seems to only support windows. Looks very complete for electrical drawing and circuits.
https://www.proficad.com/
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11-28-2020, 08:03 AM
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#9
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Guru
City: Coupeville Wa.
Vessel Name: Pacific Myst
Vessel Model: West Bay 4500
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,402
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Thanks for pointing out tinycad. It looks worth the effort to learn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Olebird
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__________________
Some things are worth doing simply because they are worth doing.
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11-28-2020, 08:13 AM
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#10
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Guru
City: Coupeville Wa.
Vessel Name: Pacific Myst
Vessel Model: West Bay 4500
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 2,402
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Whatever drawing program you use there will be a fairly steep learning curve, especially if you're new to CAD or anything like it.
LibreCAD is another free 2D. But it's a bugger to learn.
Don't waste time on a drawing program that does not support layers. It's just too hard to work out ideas as you go along without fully starting over. File format can be important as well. At a minimum for CAD work .CAD and .DXF formats. More here CAD file formats
If you need 3D visualization Sketchup is OK. I say just OK because it really doesn't work well with boaty shapes.
__________________
Some things are worth doing simply because they are worth doing.
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11-28-2020, 08:15 AM
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#11
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Senior Member
City: Eastcoast
Vessel Model: American Tug 41
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 250
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TinyCAD probably ok for circuit layout, but for other stuff like including a graphic of a system or part or all of the boat, or dimensioning something, you might need something else.
Like someone mentioned, I often end up using PowerPoint. It's not as precise as autocad programs, but it can be used for almost anything and can make things extremely clear.
We use it because we already have Office though now that MS Office is moving to a monthly pay situation, we will not likely keep getting it.
Open Office has an equivalent to PowerPoint that is free.
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11-28-2020, 09:42 AM
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#12
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Guru
City: Philadelphia, PA
Vessel Name: Revel
Vessel Model: 1984 Fu Hwa 39
Join Date: Nov 2015
Posts: 1,024
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I use AutoCAD. Utterly miserable for beginners. But, it's pretty much still the standard for building professionals.
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11-28-2020, 10:01 AM
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#13
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Guru
City: Powell River, BC
Vessel Name: Northern Spy
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 26
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,073
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For what you are doing;
MS Excel (you probably already have it)
MS Visio (you might have it or access to it)
Sketchup (free or inexpensive paid version)
Sketchup is easy to learn
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11-28-2020, 10:05 AM
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#14
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Guru
City: Aventura FL
Vessel Name: Kinja
Vessel Model: American Tug 34 #116 2008
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 10,595
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Olebird
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Alas, doesn't work on Apple.
__________________
Two days out the hospital after a week in the hospital because of a significant heart attack.
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11-28-2020, 10:17 AM
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#15
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Guru
City: Southern Maine
Vessel Model: Prairie 36 Coastal Cruiser
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,714
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I started doing a lot in Visio, but have since switched to OpenOffice, then LibraOffice, Draw. Since they all have a huge learning curve anyway, you might as well stick with one that's part of a suite, along with other stuff you might do like word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentations.
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11-28-2020, 11:02 AM
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#16
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Guru
City: Looking
Vessel Name: --
Vessel Model: Between boats
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,190
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptTom
I started doing a lot in Visio, but have since switched to OpenOffice, then LibraOffice, Draw. Since they all have a huge learning curve anyway, you might as well stick with one that's part of a suite, along with other stuff you might do like word processing, spreadsheets, database and presentations.
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Now that Visio is part of Micro shaft, it integrates seamlessly into Word, Powerpoint, etc.
I subscribed to the annual MS Office 360 thing just to get the 5 terrabytes (1TB ea on up to 5 emails) of cloud storage/backups (amortized, cheaper than any other quality cloud storage host). The fact that we also get MS Office products (except Visio ) on multiple PC's and constant updates to those is just gravy.
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11-28-2020, 11:37 AM
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#17
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Guru
City: Dewatto
Vessel Name: CHiTON
Vessel Model: Tung Hwa Clipper 30
Join Date: Jan 2020
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I'm starting the same project. I looked at SmartDraw and used the free version. It would probably do all I want, but the free version prints a "watermark" overlay that makes actually reading the schematic difficult. I'll look into tinycad.net. It would be great to have all on a laptop, but given the learning curve, I'm tempted to go old school with pencil (and eraser)
__________________
Marco Flamingo
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11-28-2020, 11:43 AM
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#18
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Guru
City: Seattle
Vessel Name: Aruna
Vessel Model: Kristen Yachts 50 Pilot House
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 540
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I've used OmniGraffle for years on the Mac, and Visio on Windows. Both are very similar in feature, but I find OmniGraffle easier to use. I've used it for high level overview diagrams and much more detailed wire-by-wire ones as well.
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11-28-2020, 11:48 AM
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#19
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Guru
City: Looking
Vessel Name: --
Vessel Model: Between boats
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 1,190
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco Flamingo
I'm starting the same project. I looked at SmartDraw and used the free version. It would probably do all I want, but the free version prints a "watermark" overlay that makes actually reading the schematic difficult. I'll look into tinycad.net. It would be great to have all on a laptop, but given the learning curve, I'm tempted to go old school with pencil (and eraser)
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WOW, that sounds painful! I started my engineering career with those......
Visio comes with a HUGE selection of Engineering components - electrical and otherwise.
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11-28-2020, 12:00 PM
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#20
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Senior Member
City: Guntersville, Al
Vessel Name: StarLite
Vessel Model: Mainship 30 Pilot II - 2003
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 413
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https://www.expresspcb.com/
More for designing pcb's but good schematics; a lower learning curve - price is right. Also older versions of visio for mechanical if you can find one (PM me). Will not run on some later versions of Windows.
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