Do portholes in the hull of a boat weaken the hull ?

Answer 1

Yes it does. Any hole in a structure will weaken it. the only reason for putting holes in trailer frames is to lighten the material. If you do add windows to a boat hull, circular holes are always best for distributing load. Hence why most bridges consist of arcs (half a circle). The De Havilland comet airliner was a famous example where they attempted to put square windows in an airplane. The weakness of the square windows resulted in catastrophic failure of the planes fuselage and a couple of them crashed (which resulted in the downfall of De Havilland ). In conclusion, portholes will weaken the structure but whether this will compromise the structure is completely dependent on what the hull is made from and how it is made.

Answer 2

Weaken>>Any hole in a boat is a potential for leaks and structural failure>

Answer 3

Its like cutting holes in a frame of a trailer it makes it stronger.It sounds funny I kow but it works. Round or triangle it doesn't matter as long as it has no end.