What is light displacement?

What is light displacement?

• A. The weight of the boat excluding fuel, water, outfit, cargo, crew, and passengers
• B. The weight of the boat including fuel, water, outfit, cargo, crew, and passengers
• C. The weight of hull
• D. The weight of the crew

Answer: (A)

Light displacement is the vessel’s weight when it is essentially a “lightship”—no consumables and no people aboard. It includes the hull, engines and other permanently installed gear, structure, and fixed fittings, but excludes fuel, water, stores, cargo, crew, and passengers. This creates a baseline used to determine how much load (fuel, water, provisions, people) the boat can carry while maintaining proper buoyancy, stability, and trim. The other descriptions describe loaded weight (with fuel, water, crew, and cargo) or an incomplete subset like just the hull or just the crew, which aren’t light displacement.

Light displacement is the vessel’s weight when it is essentially a “lightship”—no consumables and no people aboard. It includes the hull, engines and other permanently installed gear, structure, and fixed fittings, but excludes fuel, water, stores, cargo, crew, and passengers. This creates a baseline used to determine how much load (fuel, water, provisions, people) the boat can carry while maintaining proper buoyancy, stability, and trim. The other descriptions describe loaded weight (with fuel, water, crew, and cargo) or an incomplete subset like just the hull or just the crew, which aren’t light displacement.