8/2/2019 Ship's Lines

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Interpretation of Ships Lines

t first glance, Marty Meyers task for the Aprilmeeting would seem to have been a prettyeasy one. Just explain how to interpret the lines

commonly found on ships plans and to demonstratehow two-dimensional lines can be used to construct a

three-dimensional model ship. Well, like the old songonce said, It aint necessarily so.Marty is a veteran of numerous presentations, and it

didnt take long for him to realize that he might not begetting through. When he asked the membership ifthey were on the same page with him, the silence wasdeafening. To hiscredit, he backedup a little bit, andrepeated certainkey points. Asquestions began toemanate fromaround the room, itbecame apparent,progress was beingmade.With the help of a

set of Charles W.Morgan plans,Meyer explained how station lines, water lines, andbuttocks lines all relate to each other to give a precisepicture of how a real ships hull was shaped.Probably the most valuable of the three views is the

Body Plan. Templates or bulkheads can be made from

the station lines, which show the shape of the hull atvarious points along its length. These points can betaken off the Sheer Plan or the Half Breadth Plan. Bothwill give you the correct spacing.Marty exhibited some

templates, which had

been used by SidWotman for carvingthe hull of his Morgan.Meyer pointed out thatwhen makingbulkheads for a plank-on bulkhead model, it must beremembered that the Body Plan shows only half theshape at any station, and mirror image halves must bemade to complete the shape of the bulkheads.If you are

contemplating ascratch-builtbread and butter

type hull, thenyou will needthe linesdepicted on theHalf BreadthPlan as well as Station Line templates. These lines arereferred to as Water Lines. The thickness of each liftyou cut will be determined by the distance betweentwo adjacentwater lines asshown on theBody Plan orSheer Plan. Oncethe lifts are gluedtogether, thetemplates madefrom the BodyPlan are used toshape the hull.When you

understand theconcept of howthe lines relate toeach other, its not difficult to plot new water lines orstation lines, which are especially valuable whenbuilding a plank-on-bulkhead model.Merely draw a vertical line on the Half Breadth and

Sheer Plans, at the point where you wish to insert abulkhead. It then becomes a matter of transferring thepoints at which this line intersects the buttocks linesand waterlines to the Body Plan. Ships curves willhelp to plot out the final shape. Nothing to it. Huh?

A

Water LinesHalf Breadth Plan

Body Plan

Station Lines Sheer Plan

Buttocks Lines

STERN BOW

Lift Thickness

Half Breadth Plan

Station Lines

Sheer Plan