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Before downloading the BEARBOAT CLASSIC program we suggest you open and review the "Kayak Design Program Documents". Read them to determine if you want to download the program itself. Consider that the program itself, though it is compressed into a Zip file, is about 2 megabytes. To be successful by phone modem it is recommended that you do this at a time when the server and your ISP are likely to be experiencing a low volume of traffic.

BEARBOAT PRO is a more sophisticated program that can also generate a stability graph for your design, represent it in simulated 3D, and allows you to export your design as a DFX file for use in CAD programs. However, it is still a work in progress that will be continually improved and upgraded so check back here periodically to see if you have the latest stable version. The numbers the files begin with are the year month and day it was completed. Read the "read me first" file below first if you want to download BEARBOAT PRO and to be sure you download the most up to date version and the version best suited to your Mac or Windows operating system and monitor. Beta testers may want to download the absolute latest version directly off of Robert Livingston's website and help him find bugs to squash in the new features he is working on. When new features are stabilized and significant improvements are made in Bearboat Pro, we will update the version on this website. Open the "read me first" file for details and Robert's web address. Note: Bearboat Classic is now a finished product and will no longer be updated.

The Drag Prediction Spreadsheet's are in Microsoft Excel 2000 format (except for one in Excel 5.0). Some browsers can operate it (minimally) in place or they can be downloaded as ZIP files. The spreadsheets are not  large files and can be downloaded relatively quickly. These spreadsheets created by Matt Broze automate and expand the "KAPER" method for estimating drag developed by John Winters of Redwing Design. It is used by Sea Kayaker magazine as one of the two slightly different methods of estimating hull drag in their kayak reviews. This spreadsheet also archives the calculated drag results for all the kayaks that Sea Kayaker has reviewed since they began using this spreadsheet through Dec. 2002. If you make the displacement of your design the same as the archived kayaks (250 pounds plus the finished kayak's estimated weight) you will be able to compare your own hull design's predicted drag with that of about 75 existing designs. Also included in the results archives are some kayaks that were tow tank tested by Sea Kayaker in 1986 along with their 1986 tank test drag results. The towing tank results were used to fine tune this spreadsheet into the "best fit with tow tank reality" for those kayaks (and hopefully the ones that followed).

Robert has endeavored to make both of his BEARBOAT Design Programs compatible with Matt's drag spreadsheet (you can just drag and drop a row of numbers that BEARBOAT generates from your design into the spreadsheet) so you can easily estimate and fine tune the drag performance of your designs and then compare your design's estimated drag to the estimated drag for some kayaks you may have already paddled among the 75 kayaks archived on the Excel 2000 spreadsheets then you can add your designs to the archives on your spreadsheet.

While minimizing drag is only one small aspect of a good kayak design we hope one of these hull drag spreadsheets will be helpful to you. Have fun and good luck with your designs!

Please send  feedback on the BEARBOAT Design Programs to Robert Livingston at rlivingston@mac.com. 
Send feedback on this website, downloading problems, and the Drag Prediction Spreadsheet to Matt Broze by clicking Send Comments  here, on the sidebar, or near the bottom of any page.

Downloads: Bearboat Classic & Matt's Drag Prediction Spreadsheets (see further below for Bearboat Pro)