I know what you mean by the swim platforms making them seem larger. Believe me there was quite a bit of discussion on that at the board meeting when they approved the shore stations and the 21' length. (up from 19) Some people ( the ones that don't have boats) wanted to run out there and start slapping tapemeasures on all the boats, I can only imagine how that would have turned out. Cooler heads finally prevailed and it was decided that whatever the title says is the length is the length. That would be the center line length, there-by making the 206 o:k for me.