Hull

A hull is the watertight main body of a boat or ship, extending from bow to stern and including the bottom, sides and structural framing. It provides buoyancy, carries loads, supports the deck and rig or machinery, and determines how the vessel sits and moves through the water.

For boaters, hull form directly affects stability, speed, comfort, fuel use and seaworthiness. A displacement hull behaves differently from a planing hull, while beam, freeboard and underwater shape influence motion in a seaway. Understanding Displacement, Planing and Hull Draught helps with route choices, shallow-water navigation and realistic passage timing.

Hull performance is central to PredictWind routing because forecasts are most useful when matched to your vessel’s capabilities. DataHub and AI Polar can refine speed predictions from logged data, while Weather Routing uses wind, waves and currents to estimate how your hull will perform on each leg.