Mark, Coreldraw is a standalone software, rather like Microsoft Office or indeed, Adobe Photoshop, In fact it is very much like photoshop, if you have that it doesn't take much learning. Its basically an art/technical drawing software.
The way I used it for this piece was rather simple really - once I worked out how to do it. You need your ship plan on the computer, either scanned in or downloaded from another site. Then you import the plan into Coreldraw, open a second layer over it (think carbon paper and carbon copy!) Then trace the lines using the tools in Coreldraw. The tools allow you to draw straight lines, curves, circles etc and size them exactly as you require.
Once you have your line for frame, wall, bulkhead or whatever drawn you can 'hide' this layer, open a third layer and begin again on your next set of lines until you have them all traced - simples.
Coreldraw as a standalone piece of software can be had from computer outlets like PCWorld Check youtube for videos on how people use Coreldraw and tutorials. It took me about 2 days to get the hang of the tools on it that I needed to do what I wanted, but there are always more and more hidden away to learn.
