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A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. Some boats are commonly carried by a ship or on land using trailers - indeed, one of the definitions of a boat is a watercraft that can be carried by a ship.

A boat consists of one or more buoyancy structures called hulls and some 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. (A floor is properly, a structural member which ties a frame to the keelson and keel.) 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

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.

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 (and boomers are even larger, on the order of old-style battleships), 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.
  • A "boat", short for "full boat" is another term for a "full house" in the card game poker.

See also

Manufacturers

External links

Boat types | Vehicles | Water transport

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Boat".

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