I have an old version of Corel Visual Cadd from work (We upgraded to AutoCad). It is a really good program, in a lot of ways I like it better than Architectural Desktop. I think the current version is around $225, but I bet if you look around, and older version would be quite a bit less than that. I laid out the Guillemot in it, and then bought Redfish plans from Joe...

: I recently purchased "The Strip-Built Sea Kayak" by Nick Schade. In
: Chapter 4, he writes about creating form patterns by using spreadsheets
: and or CAD programs. I am interested in doing the same. I have the Office
: 97 version of Excel. However, I am concerned with printing the forms
: scaled correctly using only Excel.

: Has anyone used Excel alone or along with a drawing or CAD program to create
: your form patterns?

: Can anyone recommend and describe their experiences with low-end (inexpensive
: or free, with a short learning curve) drawing or CAD programs to create
: and print scaled forms? I am not in a position to buy an $800 CAD program
: nor do I have access to one.