Chesapeake Bay deadrise

Watermen use these boats year round for everything from crabbing and oystering to catching fish or eels.

A small cabin structure lies forward and a large open cockpit and work area aft.

Though earlier types such as skipjacks shared a similar hull form, the term "deadrise workboat" is generally understood to refer to more recent engine-powered vessels.

One of the first types of purpose-built small powered fishing boats to appear on the Chesapeake Bay were the Hooper Island draketails of the 1920s and 1930s.

Paula J. Johnson, “The Workboats of Smith Island”, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Workboat built in the traditional deadrise design, on Chesapeake Bay.
Deadrise is the angle of the bottom of the hull in a cross-section view.