My job: Drawing up dreams for the water

Marine designer Owen Langdon says his industry is highly competitive. Photo / Ted Baghurst

Name: Owen Langdon.
Age: 25.
Role: Marine designer for Elliot Boat Design.
Hours: 40-hour week.
Salary: Average salary is $40,000-$70,000 depending on whether the role includes building.
Qualifications: Bachelor of Design (Transport Design) from Massey University.

Describe what you do.

I work with Greg Elliot, one of the best yacht designers in New Zealand, who has been designing yachts for 30-odd years. He is well known for racing yachts and also has a popular range of cruising yachts. I'm lucky to be working with him.

We design yachts of all sizes. We undertake lots of research and development projects, often building and testing boats to see how they perform and how we can improve them.

We do a lot of mock-up interiors and layouts to see how they will work. We also do smaller design jobs, such as rudders or keels for old boats.

During the week, we have a variety of projects on the go; a client may want images or a builder may want drawings completed.

I'm predominantly in the office doing design and development on the computer using a variety of CAD programmes but I sometimes go out and check the progress of boats as they're being built.

What kind of programmes?

We use Rhino 3D for design and presentation renderings. We also use AutoCAD for 2D construction drawings and basic design, and other specialty naval architecture software when we need to draw hull shapes and test hull characteristics.

Your history?

I have always loved the water and was keen on yachts, but growing up in Hamilton meant I was involved in power boats rather than yachts.

I started sailing when I moved to Auckland to do my degree about seven years ago.

I wanted a career in the marine industry, initially engineering. Then I came across the transport design major, which is similar to industrial design but has more of a focus on boats or cars.

It is a four-year degree and in the final year we have to do a full-year project, so I sent 10 letters to design offices I wanted to work for explaining what I needed and Greg responded.

He wanted help with designing a 6.6m power boat. It fitted perfectly with my project requirements so it was good timing for me and led to full-time work when I graduated.

What training is necessary?

The transport design degree gave me the necessary 3D modelling, presentation and design skills. If you're keen on the engineering side you could do a naval architecture degree.

Designers focus on the initial design and development and naval architects provide the technical analysis and engineering required to ensure the boat is going to be strong enough. There is a lot of crossover between the two areas and the best designers combine both.

Essential skills and qualities?

You need to be very familiar with boats and how they perform. You have to be able to understand the client's needs and be able to communicate your ideas clearly.

You have to be prepared to work hard and keep going until you get it right. You have to be creative and think outside the square.

You also must be prepared to work alone. New Zealand design offices often have only a couple of employees.

Best part of the job?

Seeing a finished boat on the water and knowing the client is happy, then hopefully going for a sail on it.

Most challenging part?

Gaining enough knowledge of boat performance and all the subtleties that make designs work. Another challenge is trying to incorporate large interior ideas into a sleek exterior. There is often a lot of compromise.

Advice to someone wanting to do same thing?

If you're more of an artist and designer it is best to do the transport design degree but if you enjoy numbers and things being defined then I think the naval architectural degree would be better.

I'd thought I'd go into engineering, so I did Year 13 calculus, chemistry and physics. However, transport design required a portfolio.

I'd done graphics up to Year 12 but I had to do quite a bit of work on drawings at home as well as using earlier stuff from school. Once in the degree, I didn't feel disadvantaged.

There were a range of people, some more technical and some more design-focused. You have to be very passionate about the marine industry because it is very competitive.

There were eight to 10 of us doing transport design and everyone who wanted to work in the industry got a job afterwards.