Half hull model ship (original) (raw)

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Wooden model featuring only one half of a boat's hull

Several half hull model ships hanging on wall

A half hull model ship (also known as a "half hull" or "half ship") is a wooden model ship featuring only one half of a boat's hull without rigging or other fixtures.

Prior to the twentieth century, half hull model ships were constructed by shipwrights as a means of planning a ship's design and sheer and ensuring that the ship would be symmetrical. The half hulls were mounted on a board and were exact scale replicas of the actual ship's hull. With the advent of computer design, half hulls are now built as decorative nautical art and constructed after a ship is completed.[1][2]

Early half hull models (built 1809–1870 of Salem, Massachusetts ships) at the Peabody Essex Museum

  1. ^ "Encyclopedia of American Folk Art," By Gerard C. Wertkin, Lee Kogan, American Folk Art Museum Contributor Gerard C. Wertkin, Lee Kogan Edition: illustrated Published by Taylor & Francis, 2004ISBN 0-415-92986-5, 978-0-415-92986-8[1] (accessed Google Book search January 14, 2009)
  2. ^ "Half-Hull Modeling," (The Apprenticeshop, Bath, ME USA:1980)