The behaviour of a small fishing vessel in high waves was studied from an experimental point of view. The research, connected with a full scale capsizing with loss of a life, was conducted on a 1:10 scale model equipped with instrumentation to measure roll motion in beam waves. Several different loading condition, within the same displacement, realising centre of gravity values in the interval between the different IMO Intact Stability requests were tested in regular beam waves with steepness ranging from 1/30 to 1/10. The results indicate that the maximum roll amplitude is not very sensitive to the metacentric height, while on the contrary water accumulation on deck is more sensitive to metacentric height and extension of positive stability range. In particular, in the worse case, a capsizing by water accumulation was observed and recorded.
