Boats get bigger or smaller. Engines come in a range of horsepower and weights.

Whatever the characteristics of the design, the physical dimensions of a human being stay distressingly the same. Still, we keep trying to defy this principal.

The result is manifest in a couple of ways. The first is proportion. Whether the boat is 45 foot or 100 foot, the distance from one deck to the next must be a minimum of 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 feet: if, that is, the crew is expected to walk upright. That unfortunate outcome demands that a shorter boat will become proportionally higher and stubbier. Try a test: next time you see a boat that appears a bit high or gawky, hold up you hand. Cover the stern of the boat, and imagine the boat is longer. You may be surprised how much better the boat looks. The second alternative is cheat on the interior, with berths too short, passages too tight and head knockers at every turn.

Examples of defiance: 1) A sleek European styled boat. A closer look: those sitting on the flybridge are actually kneeling on the deck. 2) A builder I saw whose 4’9" wife appeared in all the companies interior photos. Wow, did the stateroom looked spacious!

Accept the height of the human frame and the truth that boats become taller as the boat gets smaller, or defy it and the make a boat with spaces suitable only "for the children".