On Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:20:52 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Other than decreasing topheaviness and increasing beam, how do you go
about minimizing probability of capsize for a powerboat? Consider a
swamped boat, what factors cause it to want to float upside down?

Momentum of water, amount of water, vertical center of gravity, how
steep the Vee is, what the sea state is, how many people and located
where - whole host of factors, the primes being Vcog, Vee and sea
state. A swamped boat will stay upright in reasonable seas, but if you
had been moving in the ditch (the bottom point or trough, between two
waves) which is a completely insane idea in a small boat).

Decreasing the amount of top weight doesn't always translate to
decreasing the Vcog either. Increasing the beam of a boat doesn't
necessarily mean the boat automatically becomes more stable either
depending on how steep the Vee is. It's more the shape of the hull,
the type of hull (modified Vee vs Deep Vee) and it's draft that
determine stability.

If you design a boat with a moderate or semi-vee the boat will tend to
ride flatter on the surface which means that in a heavy sea state it
will pound or if you are unfortunate enough to get into a heavy
following sea or quartering waves when transiting actually cause more
pitch and yaw which can be very uncomfortable. On the other hand, a
steeper Vee adds in the roll component and now your dealing with roll,
pitch and yaw and that's also dangerous.

It's a guessing game in a lot of ways in particular if you are
modifying a plan that has some merit to it as it stands.