Think of a loaf of bread from which you might make toast. One end is the bow, the other end the stern of your “boat.” Better yet, imagine four loaves of bread on your kitchen counter. Cutting one loaf of bread like a normal person does results in stations through the loaf of bread (your hull). Stations define the shape of a hull section at any point from bow to stern. They are viewed from head-on, as though the boat were coming right at you. Since the loaf of bread has the same section shape from “bow” to “stern,” all the cuts through the bread will be the same shape. Such is not the case with a hull, unless it’s a barge. Usually we divide the hull into 10 stations from bow to stern, beginning where the tip of the bow intersects the waterline and dividing the hull into equal stations from there to the transom. here