Table off Offsets?

What is the table of offsets used for in a set of plans? is it used only for constructing a mold? Also the lines view is used for what purpose?

[Eric Sponberg]

The lines of the boat are used to define the hull, of course, in order to build it. You have to loft the boat before you can build it, and lofting is essentially drawing the lines on a big flat floor at full scale. Then the frames of the boat are physically built and matched to the lines on the loft floor. The lines are also used to calculate hydrostatics (still water characteristics--displacement, block coefficient, prismatic coefficient, pounds per inch immersion, etc.) and stability (the characteristics of the boat as it heels).

The Table of Offsets are the dimensions of the hull lines (stations, waterlines, buttocks, and diagonals) with respect to the three reference lines: centerline, baseline, and station 0. If you have only a Table of Offsets, you can draw the lines and build the boat.

Eric