Displacement-Length Ratio

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The displacement-length ratio (DLR) is a calculation used to express how heavy a boat is relative to its waterline length.

A DLR is calculated by dividing a boat's displacement in long tons (2,240 pounds) by one one-hundredth of the waterline length (in feet) cubed:

\mathit{DLR} = \frac{\mathit{displacement}(\mathrm{lb}) ~/~ 2240} {(0.01 \times \mathit{LWL}(\mathrm{ft}))^3}.

The DLR can be used to compare the relative heaviness of various boats no matter what their size.