Motorized yachts seem to be quite a bit larger with much more Sq footage built above the water level than their masted brethren, why is this?
I’m assuming the masts have something to do with it. Is it because they would torque the boat too hard if they were higher up? They already seem pretty high up as is and older vessels like Galleons in pirate movies seem just peachy with a ton of room above the water level. Why is it that most luxury yachts now are so low?
Edit: to clarify I mean shorter as a function of verticality not the length of the boat.
In: 21
There are explanations here about the dynamics of ships, but one thing to consider is that bigger boats are heavier, and therefore need more power to move them. With sails this means that you need to pile on more and more sails to move bigger and bigger boats, and the extra weight of the sails themselves means that a lot of the power goes to move the sails, not the ship. Engines have a lot more “power density” for want of a better word, and you get a lot more extra energy from a larger engine.
One thing to note though, in recent years, months even, there have been plans announced to add sails to modern container ships as the price of fuel, and the carbon they spew into the atmosphere are becoming a concern, so we are beginning to see a return to sails, but not as they were before – [this is one concept image](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/bdcc4de/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1440×960+0+60/resize/1200×800!/quality/90/?url=http:%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Farchive%2Fsail.jpg) and [here’s another](https://images.hgmsites.net/hug/wisamo-wind-sail-project–michelin_100793878_h.jpg)
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