[Garabato (OP)]

I heard somewhere that a box-liked structure is better for resistance for a charge vehicle in the seas.

¿Is this true?

[JimBob]

Hi Garabato

GREAT to have you with us and a sincere welcome from me!

I am not sure what you mean by a "charge vehicle."

[Garabato (OP)]

A wood ship to carry something (materials, people, animals, etc).

I was told that a box-liked desing was great to prevent separation between joints, especially in the heavy seas.  So a wood ship like the ark didn't required reinforcing with iron straps and leak.

Im in the midlle of some kind of debate about a global flood and this has been summed up.

Thanks for the welcome BTW     

[another_someone]

A lot depends on the materials and structures you use to build a vessel - different materials have different strengths, and thus are suitable for different shapes; but in general, the strongest shape will be a sphere.

Some materials do not lend themselves well to forming curved surfaces, and so for such materials creating other shapes might be a suitable compromise.

[paul.fr]

i may be having one of my "moments", but i don't quite get the question. Are you asking if the ship should box like ie square, or that the joints in quality box's are suited to boat building, like dovetails for example?

If you are talking joints free from nails and straps then you only have to look at viking longboats, or how american indians and other tribespeople have and still do make canoes.

there really is an art and a simplicity to how they are done.

[paul.fr]

Some materials do not lend themselves well to forming curved surfaces

True, but wood can be manipulated in to a "boat shape". This can take a long time depending on the type of wood.

[DoctorBeaver]

Paul - Drakkar (Viking longships) were nailed. They were clinker-built with the overlapping planks nailed in place. Here's a nice article about them...
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/v_drakkar.htm

[paul.fr]

My mistake, Doc. There is a good reason for the error  - i am thick! But nobody listens to me any way so i can get away with it...most times.

[DoctorBeaver]

My mistake, Doc. There is a good reason for the error  - i am thick! But nobody listens to me any way so i can get away with it...most times.

I know the feeling.

P.S. Good morning

[paul.fr]

Good morning, Doc.

[another_someone]

Some materials do not lend themselves well to forming curved surfaces

True, but wood can be manipulated in to a "boat shape". This can take a long time depending on the type of wood.

Certainly, wood can be formed into a curve in one dimension, but I have yet to see wood (not plywood) forming a two dimensional curve.  In any case, no wooden structure has ever formed a continuous spherical shape (i.e. you always require joins that provide week points in the structure - this often being overcome to some extent by creating overlaps, such as clinkering, but this can scarcely be regarded as a continuous curve).

[daveshorts]

Actually the structural design of ships up to just after the Napoleonic wars (early 19th Century) was not very good, They were built with lots of right angled joints making lots of squares. A square is very bad at resisting being converted into a parallelagram which meant that despite the fact that they used huge timbers the ships were constantly changing shape which meant that you couldn't make them waterproof because the distance between the planks kept changing.
This is why they had to be constantly pumped out which without powered pumps was very laborious.
 It also meant that you couldn't build fast long narrow hull shapes because the hull would tend to hogg - the bow and stern would bend downwards.

In the early 19th century a Naval architect suddenly noticed this and started putting diagonal bracing into the design, at which point the ships could be made 50% longer so they sailed faster, and they didn't leak nearly as much. Fairly soon after this wood was replaced with iron as the building material of choice.

[DoctorBeaver]

I didn't realise the design had changed that late. Thanks for the info, Dave.