WHAT THE HULL?

I received a question out of the blue from a friend in the auto industry the other day. He asked, “When you are designing a vessel and approximating the final weight and hull surface area, do you know where the waterline is going to be? I suppose the answer is yes, but how close? And do you know how the vessel will sit in the water before it actually gets wet?”

Since he’s affiliated with Ford’s design studio, I have to wonder what the next Mustang is going to look like after a question like this.

But, as the adage goes, whenever one person asks a question, it’s safe to assume other people want to know the same thing. Most of the experienced boat owners I know have