GL: Boat Stability

[John Harris]

Since this group has had such a good time discussing the stability - sea
worthiness - of house boats lately I thought that I would widen the discussion
to all types of pleasure boats.

I think a definition of stability is important to start, my definition of good
stability for the purpose of boats is the ability of the boat to provide a
pleasant ride at all points of heading in increasing severe sea conditions and
to NEVER leave the crew wondering if they are going to survive.

I am going to use rather broad categories and leave it to the reader to
consider that the position in the list is based on the norm of the group not
the exception.

My list in order of increasing stability is:

1. canoes / kayaks
2. pontoon boats
3. pontoon house boats
4. planning power boats
5. full hull houseboats
6. racing / planning sailboats
7. semi displacement power boats
8. swing keel sailboats
9. light cruising sailboats
10. full displacements power boats
11. full keel sail boats
12. stabilized power boats

Size matters with larger being better in general. An increase of 50% in boat
length might provide a stability comparable to the next group down in the
above list.

I have not including multihull boats in the list. As a generalization they are
very stable, giving little rolling motion - until they reach the limit of
their stability at which point they have a large negative righting moment.

Discussion and comments welcome.

John Harris

As a reference I have owned boats in groups 1, 5, 7. 8, 10, and 12, and rented
groups 2, 3, 6, and 9

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