: Is there software out there for S&G boats? I have seen Ross's for strip boats. Just curious if there is anything similar for S&G boats? I have heard of FreeShip but have not looked at it.

: If there is anything, do they generate the panels or offsets for the panels?

Yes, to all the above, Kudzu.

I have been known to use Hulls (carlson's shareware item) to scribble-out a few ideas, run them through some very rough hydrostatic passes and then save that as the proprietary, .hul file.

Freeship (in one of many of its various iterations. I use version 2.6) can then Import the .hul file where you can do all sorts of detailed stuff to the form and run a very accurate hydrostatic look at the hull with lots of variations possible.

Freeship can output the hull panels for you in a form that is totally useable for the you the builder.

I further massage the design at that point by taking it to my primary design package, Rhino3d as an IGES file, directly from the Export function of Freeship.

I fair, tweak and run the whole thing through RhinoMarine until I get what I'm after and then give it surfaces, deck structure, cockpit details. I then take a look at it with Rhino's very good rendering package, Flamingo (along with a few tweeking render passes from other software)

Rhino can then use the created boat to produce 2D plan sheets, derive offsets, print-out full size templates, nest the panels, etc.

You don't need the Rhino thing to do personal boats. Freeship will get you there, as will Hulls. Freeship and Hulls have their quirkiness, like any piece of software. There's no one "perfect" software. It just depends on what you need to design and how deep into the mess you will have to go to produce an end product that will get you there.

I've attached a fairly quickly produced rendering of a boat that is being built in my shop right now. As a form study, it allows me to see how the parts are working together and the overall aesthetic shape I'm working towards. When compared to the hydrostatic analysis, I get to put the performance and handling of the boat into perspective when compared to other boats of this type.

No, it is not a kayak, or canoe., but it does serve to complete the full conceptual approach and the use of the software, as described above. The central hull is a multichine, stitch and glue build method craft, just like you asked about.