A Little Cape Horn Half Hull Information
The Cape Horn, is one example of hundreds of beautiful, fast yachts designed by William Fife III (1857-1944).
Many people often wonder, when they see the half-hull models of boats on yacht club and museum walls, "Why only half a boat?"
Originally, boatbuilders built their boats using their "eye". They didn't go to university or college to learn how to build boats. Their knowledge was learned in the shop, from sweeping the floor to doing whatever was asked of them. Eventually they learned every part of the process. Boats were built by eye, by feel for the right lines. These traditional skills are fast dying out.
Eventually, there needed to be a more efficient way to build a new design, and a way for others to duplicate that design. An experienced boatbuilder would also, at one time, be a man with a lot of sea experience. That experience would allow him to understand how a boat would perform under different sea conditions and loads. He would sit down and build a small model, in this case, a half hull. This reduced the amount of work and would allow him to see all that was necessary to be seen. Depending on the job demanded of the vessel, whether it was power or sail, carrying cargo, fishing, or for pleasure, he would make the shape accordingly. A little off the forefoot to allow a sailboat to tack better; a long straight keel to hold a steady course; full, firm bilges for carrying a larger load. After the lines of the model made the builders eye happy, he would then transfer the lines and dimensions to paper and proceed to build the real boat.
"Well", you might say, "that would only give you half a boat!" True enough, but after the half hull model was finished, all that was necessary was to make the second half the same as the first and you would then have a whole boat.
Today, it is more common to design a vessel on a computer using a CAD (Computer assisted drawing) program. The boat is built from the plans generated by the computer and the half hull model is only built as an afterthought for the owner to hang on the wall as decoration.
A lot of tradition is going by the wayside in this day and age, if you hadn't noticed!
All images on this page are copyright © 2003 Authentic Models.
All rights reserved.
Nautical Decor such as Books, Model Boats, Balance Toys, Nautical Notecards, Marine Art, Oregon Coast Photos, Nautical Flower Planters, Sailor's Valentines...and more!
Copyright © 2005 Nautical Decor...and more! All Rights Reserved.
