Half-hulls 

 

Half-hull ship models

In the 1600s shipyard owners began to make small scale models of the ships they intended to build. These models facilitated discussions between customers and shipyards and might have been some kind of “marketing tool”. In addition, they proved to be useful in setting the dimensions during construction of the actual ship.

However, making a complete model of the ship is quite elaborate. When discussing the form of the hull according to a shipwright’s experience and his knowledge of the maritime technology, a scale half-hull model would be much easier to make. It would give as good a visualisation of the intended ship’s hull to the customer. The shipwright had to make only a half-hull to show the shape of the ship he wanted to build. As ships’ hulls are symmetric and both sides are mirror images, all dimensions of the hull the dimensions could be read from the model.

Since the 19^th century half-hull models have been used in ship design. Till the 1960s they served the shipbuilders as tool, especially for positioning the steel plates, which form the outer skin of the ship' s hull. They got out of use when electronic data processing proved superior. Most shipyard half-hulls were discarded; only a few samples exist today. 

This picture shows a half-hull model of the MS DORADE and the MS DELPHINA of the shipyard Bremer Vulkan. Length of the model is 390 cm (twice 185 cm), width 31 cm, height 41 cm.

With the building of yachts half-hull models played some - modest - role. Rather than a tool for shipbuilding they were more often just beautiful show pieces. People do enjoy the elegant forms in their living rooms or their offices, especially the models show their own yachts. On this half-hull models webpage one can find many high resolution photographs of beautifully worked pieces.