Thanks for the interesting post. Ping to another wooden boat expert.
The 1st sentence of the article;
While the Bible gives us essential details on many things, including the size and proportions of Noah’s Ark, it does not necessarily specify the precise shape of this vessel.
Actually, he just described the basics of how the shape of the vessel is developed ~ everyone's seen a scaled down 1/2 model of a sailing vessel at their favorite seaside pub or yacht club (and if they haven't, what are they waiting for, a flood?). Look at all the the information available in that 1/2 model once you have evenly sliced it up vertically and horizontally, then used the offset from centerline measurements you need to derive the moulded shapes at any point on the boat. At least that's how easy it was explained away to me before my 1st line drawing...after a number of pencils and many erasers my eyes got finally back to normal. I haven't done one in a long time and am in no hurry to :)
The 6:1 length to beam ratio would be based on a calculated righting moment, i.e., you want the center of gravity of the vessel's interior and topside decks, cabinetry, and cargo to be at an exact height inside the hull, one that allows her to expend energy by rolling, or moving with the seas, yet has enough ballast to right her.
For that, you would have needed to know quite closely the weight of all it's passengers as they would have been a substantial percentage of the gross displacement, and only God knew that figure.
As to the pointy end being designed to keep her stern to....maybe, but so would a sail at either end and/or a sea anchor at the other. Another handy use would be to have an extremely stout battering ram of sorts to stand off/keep her bottom off the rocks as they climbed into the mountains.
But then, God only knows.
It sure would've been one heck of a ride though.