Explaining the boat. Anatomy of a hull (explained easily).

When we write our tests, we talk about live opera, dead opera, skids and deadrise. All these names, to the most experienced are clear, but not everyone is familiar with the technical jargon. Yet these terms are fundamental to understanding a hull and its characteristics. Therefore, we decided to sketch a boat’s hull and its parts.

We also decided to illustrate it so that it is easier for everyone to understand what we are talking about.

Isn’t that enough for you? We also have videos. Below is the full playlist.

What a fairing looks like

The first element that describes a hull is its dihedral, in English deadrise, which is the slope of the bottom of the hull, measured from the keel toward the sides, on a cross section of the boat.

Basically, the angle formed by the hull of a boat relative to the horizontal water line.

The higher this number, the “sharper” the hull. Beware, however, that all pleasure boats have what is known as a variable V, deeper at the bow (first of all to allow for better crossing of water and waves) and more open at the stern (mainly to make it easier to enter the plane and to give more stability when the boat is stationary). This means that when we talk about hull angle, it is always necessary to specify whether it refers to the stern sections (the most significant, at least on normal cruising boats) or the bow sections.

The perfect stern angles

It is of course impossible to say; it depends on the speed and use of the boat. Having to give reference numbers, it can be said that standing on 22°/24° the boat will have good passage over the wave, especially at high speeds, but it will also have less stability in the roadstead and more consumption at the same speed. On the opposite, with a hull with a stern angle of about 18°/20° (most of those on the market) you will have a more “all round” behavior, not focused on extreme performance but on comfort.