I am going to contract a naval architect to help with a single family seastead design
which is really a solar aluminum trimaran with a very soft ride (the 3 floats are more vertical than horizontal) and 
active stabilizers.  

Here are our goals:  http://seastead.ai/ai/seastead.goals.html

You can see one set of ideas here:  http://seastead.ai/ai/seastead.trimaran.80x40.html

And some AIs looking at the idea (estimating about 37,000 lbs):
   http://seastead.ai/ai/claude/seastead.trimaran.80x40.html
   http://seastead.ai/ai/gemini/seastead.trimaran.80x40.html

We may want our design to be usable as a tension leg structure:
    http://seastead.ai/ai/tension.leg.structure.html


We are building scale models and testing them in Sandy Hill Bay, Anguilla.
We can also do simulations (with AI help setting up simulations is easier these days).
So we will have a good handle on the stability, drag, and things like that.

We have never gone through the process of designing and building a boat before.

What are typical contracts like with naval architects?
If you end up making a hundred copies of the design do you pay them something for each one?  Like how much?
Do they help during the manufacturing process?
What sorts of rates are typical for 2026?
How long does it usually take to design an aluminum family sized yacht?
Give me any general info about using a naval architect and things one should understand.