This paper presents a new mesh strategy for unsteady potential flow based solvers. It is based on the coupling between a panel cutting method used for the body mesh and an advance front method to generate the free surface mesh. The goal is to deal with complex geometries for time-domain simulations for marine operations. Firstly, the new mesh generation process is presented in details. Then, two validation tests are presented, using an academic geometry (vertical surface-piercing cylinder) and a complex geometry (FPSO).