A
boat is a
watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a
ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inland waterways such as
rivers and
lakes, or in protected coastal areas. However, some boats, such as the
whaleboat, were intended for use in an offshore environment. In modern
naval terms, a boat is a vessel small enough to be carried aboard a ship. Anomalous definitions exist, as
lake freighters 1,000 feet (300 m) long on the
Great Lakes are called "boats".
Boats vary in proportion and construction methods with their intended purpose, available materials, or local traditions.
Canoes have been used since prehistoric times and remain in use throughout the world for transportation, fishing, and sport.
Fishing boats vary widely in style partly to match local conditions.
Pleasure craft used in
recreational boating include ski boats,
pontoon boats, and
sailboats.
House boats may be used for vacationing or long-term residence.
Lighters are used to convey cargo to and from large ships unable to get close to shore.
Lifeboats have rescue and safety functions.
Boats can be propelled by manpower (e.g.
rowboats and
paddle boats), wind (e.g.
sailboats), and motor (including
gasoline,
diesel, and electric).
Contents
History
A
dugout (dowbanka) dating from the end of the 19th century at
Radomysl Castle,
Ukraine[1]
Boats have served as transportation since the earliest times.
[2] Circumstantial evidence, such as the
early settlement of Australia over 40,000 years ago, findings in
Crete dated 130,000 years ago,
[3] and in Flores dated to 900,000 years ago,
[4] suggest that boats have been used since prehistoric times. The earliest boats are thought to have been
dugouts,
[5] and the oldest boats found by archaeological excavation date from around 7,000–10,000 years ago. The oldest recovered boat in the world, the
Pesse canoe, found in the
Netherlands, is a dugout made from the hollowed tree trunk of a
Pinus sylvestris that was constructed somewhere between 8200 and 7600 BC. This
canoe is exhibited in the Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands.
[6][7] Other very old dugout boats have also been recovered.
[8][9][10] Rafts have operated for at least 8,000 years.
[11] A 7,000-year-old seagoing
reed boat has been found in
Kuwait.
[12] Boats were used between 4000 and 3000 BC in
Sumer,
[2] ancient Egypt[13] and in the
Indian Ocean.
[2]
Boats played an important role in the commerce between the
Indus Valley Civilization and
Mesopotamia.
[14] Evidence of varying models of boats has also been discovered at various Indus Valley archaeological sites.
[15][16] Uru craft originate in
Beypore, a village in south
Calicut,
Kerala, in southwestern
India. This type of mammoth wooden ship was constructed[
when?] solely of teak, with a transport capacity of 400 tonnes. The ancient Arabs and Greeks used such boats as trading vessels.
[17]
The historians
Herodotus,
Pliny the Elder and
Strabo record the use of boats for commerce, travel, and military purposes.
[15]
Types
Boats with sails in Bangladesh
Main article:
List of boat types
Boats can be categorized into three main types:
- Unpowered or human-powered. Unpowered craft include rafts meant for one-way downstream travel. Human-powered boats include canoes, kayaks, gondolas and boats propelled by poles like a punt.
- Sailboats, propelled mainly by means of sails.
- Motorboats, propelled by mechanical means, such as engines.
Terminology
Further information:
Glossary of nautical terms
The
hull is the main, and in some cases only, structural component of a boat. It provides both capacity and
buoyancy. The
keel is a boat's "backbone", a lengthwise structural member to which the perpendicular frames are fixed. On most boats a
deck covers the hull, in part or whole. While a
ship often has several decks, a boat is unlikely to have more than one. Above the deck are often
lifelines connected to
stanchions,
bulwarks perhaps topped by
gunnels, or some combination of the two. A
cabin may protrude above the deck forward, aft, along the centerline, or covering much of the length of the boat. Vertical structures dividing the internal spaces are known as
bulkheads.
The forward end of a boat is called the
bow, the aft end the
stern. Facing forward the right side is referred to as
starboard and the left side as
port.
Building materials
See also:
Boat building
Traditional Toba
Batak boat (circa 1870), photograph by
Kristen Feilberg
Fishing Boats in
Visakhapatnam, India
Until the mid-19th century most boats were made of natural materials, primarily wood, although
reed, bark and animal skins were also used. Early boats include the bound-reed style of boat seen in Ancient Egypt, the
birch bark canoe, the animal hide-covered
kayak[18] and
coracle and the
dugout canoe made from a single log.
By the mid-19th century, many boats had been built with iron or steel frames but still planked in wood. In 1855 ferro-cement boat construction was patented by the French, who coined the name "ferciment". This is a system by which a steel or iron wire framework is built in the shape of a boat's hull and covered over with cement. Reinforced with bulkheads and other internal structure it is strong but heavy, easily repaired, and, if sealed properly, will not leak or corrode. These materials and methods were copied all over the world and have faded in and out of popularity to the present time.
As the forests of Britain and Europe continued to be over-harvested to supply the keels of larger wooden boats, and the
Bessemer process (
patented in 1855) cheapened the cost of steel, steel ships and boats began to be more common. By the 1930s boats built entirely of steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial uses and fishing fleets. Private recreational boats of steel remain uncommon. In 1895 WH Mullins produced steel boats of galvanized iron and by 1930 became the world's largest producer of pleasure boats.
Mullins also offered boats in aluminum from 1895 through 1899 and once again in the 1920s,
[19][1] but it wasn't until the mid-20th century that
aluminium gained widespread popularity. Though much more expensive than steel, aluminum alloys exist that do not corrode in salt water, allowing a similar load carrying capacity to steel at much less weight.
Around the mid-1960s, boats made of
fiberglass (aka "glassfibre") became popular, especially for recreational boats. Fiberglass is also known as "GRP" (glass-reinforced plastic) in the UK, and "FRP" (for fiber-reinforced plastic) in the US. Fiberglass boats are strong, and do not rust, corrode, or rot. Instead, they are susceptible to structural degradation from sunlight and extremes in temperature over their lifespan. Fiberglass structures can be made stiffer with sandwich panels, where the fiberglass encloses a lightweight core such as balsa
[20] or foam.
Cold moulding is a modern construction method, using wood as the structural component. In cold moulding very thin strips of wood are layered over a form. Each layer is coated with resin, followed by another directionally alternating layer laid on top. Subsequent layers may be stapled or otherwise mechanically fastened to the previous, or weighted or vacuum bagged to provide compression and stabilization until the resin sets.
