Yard inclining test

A yard inclining test, the inclining experiment, is the builder’s test that determines the ship’s lightship weight and the vertical center of gravity KG, run when construction is complete enough that all lightship items are installed. Known weights are shifted transversely in at least four moves and the resulting heel is read from pendulums, where tan of the heel equals the pendulum deflection divided by its length; the heeling moment divided by displacement times tan gives GM, and KG follows from KM minus GM. The 2008 IS Code (MSC.267(85)) Chapter 7 governs it: free surfaces minimized, wind under about Beaufort 3, the ship floating freely, and a flag-state or recognized-organization witness. The result sets the stability booklet datum.