Documentation of an excavated boat is a dynamic process with several phases and iterations: on site; in the recording workshop after the timbers have been (partly) cleaned, and again after conservation when timbers can more readily be handled; in the laboratory, on the model builders bench, in the drawing office, on the computer, and in the museum gallery when individual (groups of) timbers are re-assembled.

During documentation on site, two questions have to be answered:
· Are the remains to be lifted?
· If lifted, should the remains be dismantled or left articulated?

Individual timbers of dismantled boats may be recorded:
· By full-scale tracing onto a film OR
· By offsets from orthogonal axes at 1:10 or 1:5 scale

The primary aim of documentation is the compilation of an "as found" drawing. This is a measured drawing of the incomplete boat as excavated, but with distorted parts restored to shape, displaced parts re-instated, fragmented timbers mad whole, and the boat rotated to the attitude she would have had when afloat. This may be achieved via a scale model based on drawing of individual timbers.

The "as found" drawing must be accompanied by a research portfolio containing "as found" data such as:
· The photographic record
· The internal stratigraphy of the boat remains
· Wood science features of each timber
· Identifications of fastenings and caulking etc
· Drawings of key features such as scarfs and fastenings
· Wear marks, tool marks, builder's marks and "ghost" marks
· Direct measurements of significant timbers and spacings etc

From the "as found" drawing and data, the building techniques and the boat's sequence of construction may be determined. Attempts can be made to compile a hypothetical reconstruction of the form and structure of the original boat, and her propulsion and steering arrangements. Estimates of performance may then be made. Subsequently a full-scale, research reconstruction ("floating hypothesis") may be built, and sea trials undertaken.