4.25" probably does correspond to the design load. A few years ago I imported the Freedom 17 offsets in to FreeShip. I'll have to look to see if I still have the files. It would be interesting to see what FreeShip says the displacement will be for 4.25".
Nice to see your progress. I have...
An accent strip near the waterline is an interesting idea, it could be used for a quick visual check for trim. How do you know where the DWL is? I don't remember dither a DWL or design load listed for the Freedom 17 only a load range. Did you somehow reverse engineer a DWL based on your...