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The gunwale ( "gunnel" to rhyme with "tunnel") is a nautical term
Glossary of nautical terms

This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, many date from the 17th-19th century. See also Wiktionary:Category:Nautical and :Category:Nautical terms....
 describing the top edge of the side of a boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
.

Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a weal
Wheal

A wheal or wheal response is a firm, elevated swelling of the skin. Wheals are generally pale red in color, although color can also be deep red or purple....
, which, too, forms a ridge. Originally the gunwale was the "Gun
GUN

Gun is a Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft. It was published by Activision for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2....
 ridge" on a sailing
Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
 warship
Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way than cargo ship....
. This represented the strengthening wale or structural band added to the design of the ship, at and above the level of a gun deck
Gun deck

The term gun deck originally referred to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. However, on many smaller vessels such as frigates and unrated vessels the upper deck, forecastle and quarterdeck bore all of the cannons but were not referred to as the gun deck....
. It was designed to accommodate the stresses imposed by the use of artillery
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
.

In wooden boats, the gunwale remained, mounted inboard of the sheer strake
Strake

A strake is:#part of a boat or ship. It is a horizontal strip of wooden planking or steel plating on the exterior hull of a vessel, running longitudinally along the vessel from the stem to the stern....
, regardless of the use of gunnery.






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The gunwale ( "gunnel" to rhyme with "tunnel") is a nautical term
Glossary of nautical terms

This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current, many date from the 17th-19th century. See also Wiktionary:Category:Nautical and :Category:Nautical terms....
 describing the top edge of the side of a boat
Boat

A boat is a watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water, and provide transport over it. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas....
.

Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a weal
Wheal

A wheal or wheal response is a firm, elevated swelling of the skin. Wheals are generally pale red in color, although color can also be deep red or purple....
, which, too, forms a ridge. Originally the gunwale was the "Gun
GUN

Gun is a Revisionist Western-themed video game developed by Neversoft. It was published by Activision for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube, Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 2....
 ridge" on a sailing
Sailing

Sailing is the art of controlling a boat with large pieces of canvas cloth called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and dagger or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to change the direction and speed of a boat....
 warship
Warship

A warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way than cargo ship....
. This represented the strengthening wale or structural band added to the design of the ship, at and above the level of a gun deck
Gun deck

The term gun deck originally referred to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. However, on many smaller vessels such as frigates and unrated vessels the upper deck, forecastle and quarterdeck bore all of the cannons but were not referred to as the gun deck....
. It was designed to accommodate the stresses imposed by the use of artillery
Cannon

A cannon is any tubular piece of artillery, that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile over a distance....
.

In wooden boats, the gunwale remained, mounted inboard of the sheer strake
Strake

A strake is:#part of a boat or ship. It is a horizontal strip of wooden planking or steel plating on the exterior hull of a vessel, running longitudinally along the vessel from the stem to the stern....
, regardless of the use of gunnery. In modern boats, it is the top edge of the side where there is usually some form of stiffening.

On a canoe
Canoe

A canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be covered....
, the gunwale is typically the widened edge at the top of the side of the boat, where the edge is reinforced with wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
, plastic
Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic chemistry solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products....
 or aluminum.

On a rowing boat
Watercraft rowing

Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between watercraft paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection....
 (especially in sports), the gunwale is sometimes referred to as the saxboard.