How much weight can your boat float? How much can your boat support? A boat can only support so much weight before it starts to sink. Too much weight on a boat can cause it to rock back and forth or tip over. It is very important to ensure that the cargo load is balanced otherwise the possibility of a boat capsizing increases significantly. When you add weight to a vessel, the boat will begin to sink in the water, but will not sink because of the shape of the hull. Many boats are designed with flat bottoms because they are able to hold more in the hold. The only problem with the flat bottom design is weight distribution. If there is too much weight on one side rather than another, your boat tends to capsize. Balance is an important priority for the flat bottom. Too much weight on one size causes the boat to rock and tilt. There is also the problem of overloading the vessel and causing it to sink due to its short side walls. The flat bottom is also good for sailing in shallow water, they are very agile and economical to build. Smaller versions of these boats are called Jon boats. The largest styles of Jon boats are barges. The second type of ship bottom is round with keel design. The keel design is a narrow V-shaped hull that extends underneath to create a centerline to prevent it from capsizing in rough waters. Some problems with the round keel hull are that it cannot travel in shallow water. This type of boat is also more expensive to build than a flat bottom Jon boat. The last hull type is a multihull vessel. A multihull boat is the most expensive style of boat to build. The reason for this is that the hulls you want for your boat will depend on what you will use the boat for. If you are... in the center of the paper... the x axis. Finally, you will analyze the graphs you created describing the relationship between buoyancy and volume of the different boat hulls. In the end, this experiment should have taught you how different boat hull shapes affect the stability of your boat on the water. The results of the experiment also showed that some hull styles can support more weight than others. Another important finding was how weight distribution is an important factor because it can make the difference between keeping the boat afloat or tipping over and capsizing. Now you know how a boat's hull style affects its flotation. Works Cited http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Aero_p020.shtml#procedure http://www.teachengineering.org/view_lesson.php? url=collection/duk_/lessons/duk_float_mary_less/duk_float_mary_less.xml