One characteristic of stepped hulls that certainly would appeal to many boaters is the ability to plane quickly with little bow rise, says John Livingston, president of Fluid Motion, the builder of Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats in Kent, Wash. Cutwater’s 26, 28 and 30 pilothouse boats ride stepped hulls. “You don’t lose sight of the horizon,” says Livingston, who before establishing Cutwater designed stepped boats for Regal. “When you take off in a conventional boat, you build up a bow wave in front of you. The nose comes up as you climb the bow wave. With a stepped boat, you eliminate that rise and get up flatter.”