Before any keel is ever laid, naval architects spend considerable time in determining how exactly the vessel must come together. All great marine craft still need skilled and competent crews to make them maneuver and perform as their design intended. With their feet on the deck plates, crewmen have perhaps the best insight as to what works and what does not when it comes to highly functional vessel design. It happens more often than vessel owners will care to admit, but complete specifications have been written and contracts signed without bringing a single mariner to the table.