When I went in to building the skin boat I knew what I was looking for (I already have a 17 foot X24" high deck boat) so I was shooting for 16.6 give or take and 20". As I went through Morris' book I kepth thinking "man that seems a little large, but that's what the book says". So what did I wind up with, a 16' boat, 23" wide, and only an inch lower on the rear deck.

What does this mean, well now I have a long voluminous touring boat, a lighter slightly smaller day paddling boat, and a chance to actually build that play boat I was trying for in the first place.

Don't forget freeboard isn't only dependant on length and width, but also on the hull shape below waterline. I haven't done a calculation, but I'd guess you could lose a couple cubic feet easily on round/sharp bottom versus square/flatter bottom.

Oh yeah, and I'm 5' 11", 200 lbs, and my wing span is about "------" that much.
Randy