The work Mike Edmundson has done is spectacular. I haven't learned how to use FreeShip yet. But I will. Before the month is out for sure.
I worked with some free hull design software 4-5 years ago and gave up on it. FreeShip may not be perfect but it has definitely crossed a usability threshold. Rhino is good too of course. But the last time I checked you had to 2nd mortgage you house to buy it. FreeShip changes that equation. Making a FreeShip dory design tutorial is now an official goal for this website.
The first thing I want to work on are designs for low-sided but decked day trip fishing boats. I've built only one such boat so far. But I love that boat and it makes me a believer. Boat design software is going to grease the creativity process. And the rate of change. I can feel it coming.
What's so special about decked? The trend in day trip boats has been toward low sided skiffs for a long time. Even for 15-17 foot pointed-at-the-front-end fishing boats the best sellers now have lower sides, raised only at the oarlock positions, so they're easier to get into and out of. And so they don't suffer so badly at the oars on windy days.
Decked boats can be even lower yet, with no worries about taking on water when you do crash the occasional wave. Fishermen on day trip fishing boats wear wading gear anyway (blue jean cutoffs or waders) so a low-sided splash or two isn't in anyway a problem.
Perhaps even more important, sitting or standing on a decked platform 16 - 18" inches higher than the floor of an old fashioned open boat, is a better way to fish. It's easier to spot fish from higher up. And easier to cast a fly rod. Easier to manipulate line regardless which type of rod.
I've talked a lot about wider boats being better in the past. Decked boats are going to happen too. And they're going to trend toward wider. I know this because I have special powers and I can predict the future accurately. Just kidding. But I do think hull design software is going to accelerate a gradual evolution in drift boat hull design that has already started.
Wider and decked is where it's going to end up. Fishing boats are going to look like fat wide SUP boards soon. Thus spake Sandy.