I've been asked about the experiences I had with DelftShip producing panels which didn't work out right. So here's a picture. This is of the bow. The stern was very similar. In this picture

• the bottom panels are fully wired together
• the side panels are wired together at stem and stern
• accurately shaped stations are in place, temporarily glued onto the side panels to hold them in the correct position
• I've run a string from top of stem to top of stern, and measured down from it to the stations: this confirms that the side panels by themselves are forming prety much exactly the shape as designed
• as the picture clearly shows, the bottom panels are exactly the right length
• also, the panels are the right width at all points (eg panel width at the station exactly matches the length of the station edge)
• also, a photo from the top (not shown here) clearly shows that the chine (top) edges of the bottom panels are just the same distance apart side to side as the chine (bottom) edges of the side panels they should meet
• but the sides and bottom do not meet vertically!

The stern was if anything even worse: the design called for a very very slight hollow in the keel line to form almost a skeg at the back, but the bottom panels when joined again left a gaping gap to the side panels, and the keel line dipped down hugely.

Fixing this was not too hard in the end, with a long thin V of wood glued onto the top of each bottom panel at each end, then the bottom of the bottom panels trimmed (a lot!) as required.

I suspect this is due to twist in the panels. This does make them not fully developable, so it is fair enough for Delftship not to cope - and I was expecting a little adjustment to be needed - just not this much. I'm passing on this pic and the design file to the DelftShip developer - to whom big thanks for the free program to start with! - and I'll post any interesting developments here.