use of transom

This is a serious question, I am not trying to be flipant. But what is the purpose of a transom on a rowning boat that is intended to be used in open dynamic water. Why would they not simply be made doublended such as a dory, so that waves could be addressed equally by either the bow or stern?

 There must be some advantage that I am not seeing, as boats have been built this way for, at the least hundreds of years.


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RE: use of transom

   Hah!  We're building a Pram which has two transoms and it will be set up to both row and sail. That reply wasn't meant to be flipant either. just pointing out that water craft come in all shapes. The front transom might seem like it would make the boat inefficient, but it's the shape of the boat at the waterline that matters, not what it looks like at above.

Some of my guesses for the reason for transoms are -- more volume and carrying capacity for a given length and an increase in initial stability. My knowledge of boat design is pretty rudimentary, but there's a lot of factors that will determine how a boat will shed waves. For example, does it have tumblehome or flare.  I think that flare will always shed water/waves better than tumblehome, but that may result in less secondary stability.

digger

 

 

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