A parametric analysis of stability was performed for more than 30,000 geometric variants of cylindrical-hulled pontoon vessels to quantify the impacts of vessel geometry and prepassenger displacement on the maximum passenger weight allowed by the US Coast Guard (USCG) Pontoon Simplified Stability Test (PSST). Variables examined included pontoon diameter, pontoon length, pontoon separation, deck height, passenger deck width, location of forward and aft edges of the passenger deck, prepassenger displacement prior to loading, and trim. Each pontoon vessel variant was evaluated using General Hydrostatics Software to apply the PSST to determine the maximum passenger weight allowed for that vessel. Graphical analysis of the data demonstrated that a vessel's allowable passenger weight increases with: an increased pontoon diameter or length of pontoon, a decreased deck height, a limited increase in pontoon separation or beam ratio, and a symmetrically decreased passenger deck width or length. Additionally, it was found that each specific vessel has an optimum prepassenger displacement, unique to its pontoon diameter and length of pontoons, which maximizes the allowable passenger weight. Finally, a method is provided to correlate the present results with prior related work by other authors that characterized pontoon vessel stability in the context of pontoon percent submergence.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
May 01 2010
Impact of Pontoon Vessel Geometry on Allowable Passenger Weight Using USCG Pontoon Simplified Stability Test
Todd Taylor
Todd Taylor
United States Coast Guard
Search for other works by this author on:
J Ship Prod Des 26 (02): 135–143.
Paper Number:
SNAME-JSPD-2010-26-2-135
Article history
Published Online:
May 01 2010
Citation
Myatt, Lisa L., Thomas, Brian, and Todd Taylor. "Impact of Pontoon Vessel Geometry on Allowable Passenger Weight Using USCG Pontoon Simplified Stability Test." J Ship Prod Des 26 (2010): 135–143. doi: https://doi.org/10.5957/jspd.2010.26.2.135
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Personal Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Pay-Per-View Access
$35.00
Advertisement
3
Views
Cited By
Email Alerts
Advertisement
Suggested Reading
Advertisement