Chine (boating)

[citation needed] The first hulls to start incorporating hard chines were probably shallow-draft cargo-carrying vessels used on rivers and in canals.

[1] Once sufficiently powerful marine motors had been developed to allow powerboats to plane, it was found that the flat underside of a chined boat provided maximum hydrodynamic lift and speed.

While sailing scows had a poor safety reputation, that was due more to their typical cheap construction and tendency to founder in storms.

River steamboats were often built using the same hard-chined construction methods of the sailing scows, with a flat bottom, hard chine, and nearly vertical sides.

Consisting usually of a single plank for each side, with a square bow and stern, the punt was in essence a tiny scow.

[citation needed] The simplest type of chine construction is the single-chine "V" shape, with two flat panels joined at the keel (A).

Kayaks, in particular, are often composed of many chines, required for the complex shapes needed to provide good performance under various conditions.

This method of construction originated with the sailing scow[5] and continues to be used today, primarily in home built boats.

A padded V-hull is a hull shape found on both pure race boats and standard recreational craft.

The driver must make slight, accurate steering inputs to maintain level progress, as otherwise padded V-hulls tend to "chine-walk".