Jumbo Panel Versus Ordinary Panels

From a technical point of view, there is no difference between a jumbo panel and an ordinary panel. They are stored and generated in exactly the same way. This also implies that a jumbo panel has the same restrictions as other panels, for example, it must not have any knuckles but it must be located in one plane.

A possible definition of a jumbo panel is: "A jumbo panel is a panel in a preliminary version that is later on to be subdivided into production panels."

A certain interval has been reserved for data types for jumbo panels. A data type for a jumbo panel should be in the closed interval [800, 899].

After the splitting of a jumbo panel, say a deck, into production size panels, one and the same piece of the deck may be described by the jumbo panel and by one of the ordinary panels.

Therefore, it is recommended to gather jumbo panels into block(s) of their own, so that they can be sorted away in various situations. A possibility is also to let the jumbo panel belong to blocks that are not included in the normal structure of the current ship.

Normal blocks include the panels from a restricted volume. Jumbo blocks may contain decks that extend over a large part of the ship. Such a block can be considered as a way of keeping record of the panels in an organized way rather than as a geographical unit. However, restrictions in space must be set to include all its members.