Understanding Stability and Trimming Calculations

[Brian]

For those of you who want to compute a boat's stability or how she will sit in the water I have posted two articles up on the web:

Understanding Stability at
http://hawaii-marine.com/templates/s...ty_article.htm
This article explains the theory behind transverse stability calculations. It explains the concept of metacentric height, heeling moment, etc.

Understanding Trim at
http://hawaii-marine.com/templates/Trim_Article.htm
This article gets into the nitty gritty on how to utilize Curves of Form and Weights and Moments data to calculate trim. Or how to calculate Weights and Moments data based on existing trim conditions and Curves of Form data.

These articles are meant to be understood by anyone with a background in algebra and geometry. Being a yacht designer or naval architect is not a requirement.

Hope this helps. It will probably help professional mariners and fishermen more than recreational boaters, but it is of value to all.