Bilge design?

[Troppo]

Having spent quite a bit of time head down in the bilge of Windchaser, to the point where my shoulders and neck have told me they have had enough, I was wondering about bilge design.

What is the reason for having such a deep bilge in the Mk 1 and Mk 2s? It goes all the way to the very bottom of the keel. Why should the lead be all up the front of the keel and the back half hollow and thus making it the bilge? And what do the Mk 3s have? Is their ballast spread evenly all the way along the keel? Volume wise, do the Mk3s have the same size bilge?

What if I made half my bilge into a second water container or fuel? Would a bilge of only half the original size make it somehow unsafe in some conditions?

Troppo