How do you find the waterline? help

How do you calculate the waterline on a hull? recently bought an older boat and currently restoring it without any plans, is there an easy way of finding it? And what weight would u suggest a 16ft wooden hull should be approx? cheers.

 

It doesn't have to be exact. You're better off to be a little high than low. I always just used a string. start from the back and work up until the string touches where the side meets the bottom of the boat. Secure this and then run it up to the bow. You can pop a string or place black tape along the string line.

 

Without going through a handful of calculations, concerning hull volume and weight distribution, you have little choice but to launch the boat and see where she rides. The plans would have this information for you, but without, you're going to have to do it the hard way.

Make sure you launch and load the boat as it would be used, so you get an accurate picture of the waterline. Paint the boot stripe about 2" (okay, this depends on the size of the boat) above the actual LWL.