Smooth Cruising: He Did the Next Best Thing to Taming the Seas
Four cones! Seen in a ship line drawing by Frank Pembroke Huckins, the idea behind the Quadraconic hull couldn’t be clearer. Four hollow shapes following semi-conical radii work together to create a hydrodynamic shape in forward hull sections. The result? Diminished pounding at cruising speeds. Seems simple, but it was quite a breakthrough in 1928, decades before C. Raymond Hunt’s deep-V hull. That it was achieved in triple-mahogany planked hulls, working in concert with a builder that tallied every ounce of materials, helped make Huckins a desirable brand for those who wanted to tackle the sea efficiently and comfortably.
Huckins is just one of five creative thinkers that Yachting profiled in its December, Spirit of Innovation, issue. You can read the other four here:
