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The beam of a ship is its width at its widest point. The maximum beam (BMAX) is the distance between planes passing through the outer extremities of the ship, beam of the hull (BH) only includes permanently fixed parts of the
The beam of a ship is its width at its widest point. The maximum beam (BMAX) is the distance between planes passing through the outer extremities of the ship, beam of the hull (BH) only includes permanently fixed parts of the hull
Hull may refer to:
Structures
* Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle
* Fuselage, of an aircraft
* Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds
* Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship
* Submarine hull
Mathematics
* Affine hull, in affi ...
, and beam at waterline (BWL) is the maximum width where the hull intersects the surface of the water.
Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship (or boat), the more initial stability it has, at the expense of secondary stability in the event of a capsize
Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fr ...
, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position. A ship that heels
The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg.
Structure
To distribute the compressive forces exerte ...
on her ''beam ends'' has her deck beams nearly vertical.
Typical values
Typical length-to-beam ratios ( aspect ratios) for small sailboats are from 2:1 (dinghies to trailerable sailboats around ) to 5:1 (racing sailboats over ). Large ships have widely varying beam ratios, some as large as 20:1.Rowing shells
In watercraft, a racing shell (also referred to as just a ''fine boat'' (UK) or just ''shell'') is an extremely narrow, and often comparatively long, rowing boat specifically designed for racing or exercise. It is outfitted with long oars, outrigg ...
designed for flatwater racing may have length to beam ratios as high as 30:1, while a coracle has a ratio of almost 1:1 – it is nearly circular.
Rule of thumb - formula
The beam of many monohull vessels can be calculated using the following formula: : Where LOA is Length OverAll and all lengths are in feet. Some examples: * For a standard yacht: the cube root of 27 is 3, 3 squared is 9 plus 1 = 10. The beam of many 27 ft monohulls is . * For aVolvo Open 70
The Volvo Open 70 (sometimes referred to as a Volvo Ocean 70) is the former class of ra