Beam (nautical)

Description

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ship’s nominal waterline. The beam is defined as a bearing projected at right-angles from the fore and aft line, outwards from the widest part of ship. Length overall, often abbreviated as (LOA) is the maximum length of a vessel’s hull measured parallel to the waterline. The beam of many monohull vessels can be calculated by the LOA of the vessel.