[billslugg]

How could it possibly be that a ship gets finished and they find that it weighs more than they thought?

I build a lot of stuff in my career and we could just pull a total weight right off the CAD system. There was no such thing as a surprise.

[Robert A Cook PE]

CAD. That wonder as-designed, as-intended, as-built difference.

[Noumenon]

Too much mit der beer und der schnitzels machen...

[pepsi_junkie]

How could it possibly be that a ship gets finished and they find that it weighs more than they thought?

Little known nugget: The first few US Navy Ticonderoga Class cruisers were found to be very top heavy in high speed maneuvers and unstable. The Navy dumped heavy stuff (lead I think) in the keel to get stability, but made the "too much weight" problem that much worse. So they initiated a program called "Taking Off Tons, Sensibly" or TOTS. Eventually by the time they introduced the Vertical Launching System they had resolved the issue but the first five ships were doomed to never really be all they could be. They've since been decommissioned.

Stuff happens.

[PeterPrinciple]

we could just pull a total weight right off the CAD system.

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just because you have a number, doesn’t mean it is right.