I've found that NURBS work fairly well in Maya; we have a Wiki tutorial that follows the method you described to loft the hull from a set of splines.
Personally, I prefer to create splines lengthways to follow the planking, and loft vertically to get the result (see my Bellona thread).
This method is more reliable for extruding features such as the wales, and makes UV mapping a little easier.
Personally, I prefer to create splines lengthways to follow the planking, and loft vertically to get the result (see my Bellona thread).
This method is more reliable for extruding features such as the wales, and makes UV mapping a little easier.