Boat
A boat is a structure designed to float on water coupled with a system of propulsion, such as a
screw,
oars,
paddles, a setting pole, a
sail,
paddlewheels or a
water jet.
Encyclopedia
A
boat is a structure designed to float on water coupled with a system of propulsion, such as a
screw,
oars,
paddles, a setting pole, a
sail,
paddlewheels or a
water jet.
Parts of a boat
The roughly horizontal, but cambered structures spanning the hull of the boat are referred to as the "deck". In a ship there are often several, but a boat is unlikely to have more than one. The similar but usually lighter structure which spans a raised cabin is a coarch-roof. The "floor" of a cabin is properly known as the sole but is more likely to be called the floor. The underside of a deck is the deck head. The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are "bulkheads". Some are important parts of the vessel's structure. The front of a boat is called the bow or prow. The rear of the boat is called the stern. The right side is starboard and the left side is port. Many boats these days have a section called the gralper. This section is designed to reduce water flow to the non-aerodynamic parts of the boat.
Types of boats
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Unusual floating vehicles have been used for sports purposes as well—for example, "bathtub races" in many cities actually use, as the name implies,
boats made from bathtubs.
Boat building materials
Boats can be classified by the material used to build them. Up till the mid 19th century all boats were wooden and some boats are still made of wood. With the industrial revolution, steel was relatively inexpensive and there were no forests left in Britain to supply the keels of larger wooden boats and the age of the steel ship started. Small boats were still made of wood as it was easier to work with. In the mid twentieth century with aluminium becoming plentiful, light and easier to work with than steel, aluminium boats started getting popular. Around the mid 1960s, boats made out of
Fiberglass reinforced plastic more commonly just called fiberglass started coming out and is now the most popular material used for recreational boats. The
coast guard refers to such boats as FRP boats.
One of the main advantages of fiberglass boats was that if properly built, they were extremely strong, did not rust, corrode or rot, were relatively easy to maintain and for recreational boats quite practical. Fiberglass provides structural strength, especially when long woven strands are laid, sometimes from bow to stern and then soaked in epoxy to form the hull of the boat. One of the disadvantages of fiberglass is that it is heavy and to alleviate this, various lighter components were incorporated into the design. One of the more common was to use cored fiberglass with the core being balsa wood completely encased in fiberglass. While this worked, the addition of wood made the structure of the boat susceptible to rotting. Similarly 'advanced composites' are ways to introduce less expensive and by some less structurally sound materials.
See
Boat building for more information.
Boat propulsion
Power can be applied to move boats through the water be several means. The most common means are:
- Human power
- Wind power
- Motor powered screws
Other meanings
- Often in rowing as a racing-type competitive sport, "boat" means the crew and "shell" means the craft. So a university might refer to its first boat, meaning the rowers who make up their best team, rather than their best piece of equipment.
- A submarine is generally referred to as a "boat" rather than a "ship". This dates from the early days of submarine warfare, when submarines were essentially motor torpedo boats which could submerge. In the modern combat environment where a typical attack submarine is the size of a destroyer and equipped with either a nuclear reactor or air independent propulsion which can allow it to stay submerged for months or weeks , this use is something of an anachronism.
- A ship can be informally known as a "boat", especially by its crew. This use is uncommon in the case of a warship, and can be considered insulting.
- In Great Lakes shipping, "boat" refers to any vessel, even one which would normally be considered a "ship" on the ocean.
- In some versions of cockney rhyming slang, "boat" means face, from "boat race".
- The term "gravy boat" is used to describe a small jug used to dispense meat gravy at the dining table. Similarly: "sauce boat".
- A "stone boat" is a kind of sled used by farmers to haul stones and other heavy objects. It serves a similar function to a trailer with wheels, but it is dragged on skids or directly on the ground.
- "Boat" can also refer to one of the massive cars manufactured in America from the 1950s through the 1970s. Those cars were also called boats because of their slow response to steering.
- A "boat", short for "full boat" is another term for a "full house" in the card game poker.
See also
Articles on manufacturers
External links
- General info for those new to boats
- Explanation of International HIN formats
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