For a steel boat floating on a lake, the weight of the water displaced by the boat is

According to Archimedes' Principle, any object partially or fully immersed in a fluid experiences an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces [1]. For a boat to float in static equilibrium, the upward buoyant force must exactly balance the downward gravitational force, which is the weight of the boat. This is known as the principle of flotation, which states that a floating object displaces a weight of liquid equal to its own weight. While a solid steel bar sinks because it cannot displace enough water to match its weight, a steel boat is shaped to enclose air, reducing its average density and allowing it to displace a volume of water whose weight equals the total weight of the boat before it becomes fully submerged. Thus, for any floating vessel, the weight of the displaced water is equal to the weight of the boat [1].

Sources

1. [1] Science ,Class VIII . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 5: Exploring Forces > A step further > p. 76