Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Boat shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Boat offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Boat at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Boat? Wrong! If the Boat is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Boat then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Boat? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Boat and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Boat wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Boat then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Boat site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Boat, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Boat, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
A
boat is a
watercraft designed to float or plane on, and provide transport over, water. Usually this water will be inland (lakes) or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the
whaleboat were historically designed to be operated from a
ship in an offshore environment. In Naval terms, a boat is something small enough to be carried aboard another vessel (a ship). Some boats too large for the Naval definition include the
lake freighter, riverboat, narrowboat and
ferryboat. However, these examples generally do operate on inland and protected coastal waters. Modern submarines can also be called boats, despite their underwater capabilities and size. This may be because the first submarines could be carried by a ship and were not capable of making independent offshore passages. Boats may be used by the military or other government interests, or for research or commercial purposes; but regardless of size, a vessel in private, non-commercial usage is almost certainly a boat.
Parts of a boat
The roughly horizontal, but cambered structures spanning the
hull (watercraft) 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 coach-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 keel is a lengthwise structural member to which the frames are fixed (sometimes referred to as a backbone). The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are bulkheads. 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. Boats of earlier eras often featured a
Figurehead protruding from the front of the bow.
Types of boats
of
Hong Kong., USA.{||--|
|
|
|
|}
Unusual boats have been used for sports purposes - for example, in "big bathtub races" which use boats made from bathtubs. Pumpkins have been used as boats as in the annual Pumpkin Boat Race on Lake Otsego in New York state, USA. In this race, very large, hollowed out pumpkin shells are used for boats, powered by canoe paddles.
Boat building materials
,
South Carolina,
United States.Until the mid 19th century most boats were of all natural materials; primarily wood. 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. They called it 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 (
troweled) 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. 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 of all steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial uses, even the fishing fleets. Private recreational boats in steel are uncommon. In the mid 20th century aluminium gained popularity. Though much more expensive than steel, there are now aluminum alloys available that will not corrode in salt water, and an aluminum boat built to similar load carrying standards could be built lighter than steel.Nowdays fibre glass is dominating boat industry.
Platt Monfort invented Wire Plank(r)(1969), Fer-a-Lite(r)(1972), Str-r-etch Mesh(r)(1975), and Geodesic Airolite Boats(r)(1981). Fer-A-Lite(r) is a mixture of polyester resin, fiberglass, and a filler. This, along with Str-r-etch Mesh(r), could be used to build a boat in the same fashion as a ferro-cement boat, but the resulting hull would be much lighter and more resilient. Wire Plank(r) was first used in ferro-cement construction, but could also be used with Fer-a-Lite to create a medium to heavy weight hull. Geodesic Airolite Boats(r) are built using very lightweight wooden frames (
geodesic) that are covered over with some lightweight heatshrinkable plastic or a synthetic fabric such as dacron coated with sealant. This tensioned skin adds to the overall strength of the structure and boats built thus are of the ultra-light variety. Boats come in many different shapes and sizes. Why? SO that some boats will be used perfectly against different types of waves.
Around the mid 1960s, boats made out of glass-reinforced plastic, more commonly known as
fiberglass, became popular, especially for recreational boats. The United States Coast Guard refers to such boats as 'FRP' (for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) boats.Fiberglass boats are extremely strong, and do not rust, corrode, or rot. They are, however susceptible to structural degradation from sunlight and extremes in temperature over their lifespan. Fiberglass provides structural strength, especially when long woven strands are laid, sometimes from bow to stern, and then soaked in epoxy or polyester resin to form the hull of the boat. Whether hand laid or built in a mold, FRP boats usually have an outer coating of gelcoat which is a thin solid colored layer of polyester resin that adds no structural strength, but does create a smooth surface which can be buffed to a high shine. One of the disadvantages of fiberglass is that it is heavy and to alleviate this, various lighter components can be incorporated into the design. One of the more common methods is to use cored FRP, with the core being balsa wood completely encased in fiberglass. Cored FRP is most often found in decking which helps keep down weight that will be carried above the waterline. While this works, the addition of wood makes the cored structure of the boat susceptible to rotting. The phrase 'advanced composites' in FRP construction may indicate the addition of carbon fiber, kevlar(tm) or other similar materials, but it may also indicate other methods designed to introduce less expensive and, by at least one yacht surveyor's eyewitness accounts , less structurally sound materials.
Cold molding is similar to FRP in as much as it involves the use of epoxy or polyester resins, but the structural component is wood instead of fiberglass. In cold molding very thin strips of wood are laid over a form or mold in layers. This layer is then coated with resin and another directionally alternating layer is laid on top. In some processes the subsequent layers are stapled or otherwise mechanically fastened to the previous layers, but in other processes the layers are weighted or even vacuum bagged to hold layers together while the resin sets. Layers are built up thus to create the required thickness of hull.
People have even made their own boats or watercraft out of commonly available materials such as styrofoam or plastic, but most homebuilts today are built of plywood and either painted or covered in a layer of fiberglass and resin.
Boat propulsion
The most common means are:
- Human power (rowing, paddling, setting pole etc.)
- Wind power (Sailsing)
- Motor powered Propeller
in
Poole Harbour, Dorset, England. This is the largest class of UK lifeboat at 17 metres long
Why boats float
See also buoyancy
A boat stays afloat because its weight is equal to that of the water it
displacement (fluid). The material of the boat itself may be heavier than water (
per volume), but it forms only the outer layer. Inside it is air, which is negligible in weight. But it
does add to the volume. The central term here is
density, which is
mass ('weight') per
volume. The mass of the boat (plus contents)
as a whole has to be divided by the volume
below the waterline. If the boat floats, then that is equal to the density of water (1 kg/l). To the water it is as if there is water there because the
average density is the same. If weight is added to the boat, the volume below the waterline will have to increase too, to keep the mass/weight balance equal, so the boat sinks a little to compensate.
External links
- World of Boats Boat museum in Scotland
- Hull Identification Numbers Explanation of International HIN formats
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections -- Freshwater and Marine Image Bank -- Vessels Images of boats and vessels.
- ConceptBoat.Dee-London.com - Southampton Boat Show 2007 photos
A
boat is a
watercraft designed to float or plane on, and provide transport over, water. Usually this water will be inland (lakes) or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the
whaleboat were historically designed to be operated from a
ship in an offshore environment. In Naval terms, a boat is something small enough to be carried aboard another vessel (a ship). Some boats too large for the Naval definition include the
lake freighter,
riverboat, narrowboat and
ferryboat. However, these examples generally do operate on inland and protected coastal waters. Modern
submarines can also be called boats, despite their underwater capabilities and size. This may be because the first submarines could be carried by a ship and were not capable of making independent offshore passages. Boats may be used by the military or other government interests, or for research or commercial purposes; but regardless of size, a vessel in private, non-commercial usage is almost certainly a boat.
Parts of a boat
The roughly horizontal, but cambered structures spanning the
hull (watercraft) 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 coach-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 keel is a lengthwise structural member to which the frames are fixed (sometimes referred to as a backbone). The vertical surfaces dividing the internal space are bulkheads. 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. Boats of earlier eras often featured a
Figurehead protruding from the front of the bow.
Types of boats
of
Hong Kong., USA.{||--|
|
|
|
|}
Unusual boats have been used for sports purposes - for example, in "big bathtub races" which use boats made from bathtubs. Pumpkins have been used as boats as in the annual Pumpkin Boat Race on Lake Otsego in New York state, USA. In this race, very large, hollowed out pumpkin shells are used for boats, powered by canoe paddles.
Boat building materials
,
South Carolina,
United States.Until the mid 19th century most boats were of all natural materials; primarily wood. 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. They called it 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 (troweled) 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. 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 of all steel from frames to plating were seen replacing wooden boats in many industrial uses, even the fishing fleets. Private recreational boats in steel are uncommon. In the mid 20th century aluminium gained popularity. Though much more expensive than steel, there are now aluminum alloys available that will not corrode in salt water, and an aluminum boat built to similar load carrying standards could be built lighter than steel.Nowdays fibre glass is dominating boat industry.
Platt Monfort invented Wire Plank(r)(1969), Fer-a-Lite(r)(1972), Str-r-etch Mesh(r)(1975), and Geodesic Airolite Boats(r)(1981). Fer-A-Lite(r) is a mixture of polyester resin, fiberglass, and a filler. This, along with Str-r-etch Mesh(r), could be used to build a boat in the same fashion as a ferro-cement boat, but the resulting hull would be much lighter and more resilient. Wire Plank(r) was first used in ferro-cement construction, but could also be used with Fer-a-Lite to create a medium to heavy weight hull. Geodesic Airolite Boats(r) are built using very lightweight wooden frames (geodesic) that are covered over with some lightweight heatshrinkable plastic or a synthetic fabric such as dacron coated with sealant. This tensioned skin adds to the overall strength of the structure and boats built thus are of the ultra-light variety. Boats come in many different shapes and sizes. Why? SO that some boats will be used perfectly against different types of waves.
Around the mid 1960s, boats made out of
glass-reinforced plastic, more commonly known as fiberglass, became popular, especially for recreational boats. The
United States Coast Guard refers to such boats as 'FRP' (for Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) boats.Fiberglass boats are extremely strong, and do not rust, corrode, or rot. They are, however susceptible to structural degradation from sunlight and extremes in temperature over their lifespan. Fiberglass provides structural strength, especially when long woven strands are laid, sometimes from bow to stern, and then soaked in epoxy or polyester resin to form the hull of the boat. Whether hand laid or built in a mold, FRP boats usually have an outer coating of gelcoat which is a thin solid colored layer of polyester resin that adds no structural strength, but does create a smooth surface which can be buffed to a high shine. One of the disadvantages of fiberglass is that it is heavy and to alleviate this, various lighter components can be incorporated into the design. One of the more common methods is to use cored FRP, with the core being balsa wood completely encased in fiberglass. Cored FRP is most often found in decking which helps keep down weight that will be carried above the waterline. While this works, the addition of wood makes the cored structure of the boat susceptible to rotting. The phrase 'advanced composites' in FRP construction may indicate the addition of carbon fiber, kevlar(tm) or other similar materials, but it may also indicate other methods designed to introduce less expensive and, by at least one yacht surveyor's eyewitness accounts , less structurally sound materials.
Cold molding is similar to FRP in as much as it involves the use of epoxy or polyester resins, but the structural component is wood instead of fiberglass. In cold molding very thin strips of wood are laid over a form or mold in layers. This layer is then coated with resin and another directionally alternating layer is laid on top. In some processes the subsequent layers are stapled or otherwise mechanically fastened to the previous layers, but in other processes the layers are weighted or even vacuum bagged to hold layers together while the resin sets. Layers are built up thus to create the required thickness of hull.
People have even made their own boats or watercraft out of commonly available materials such as
styrofoam or plastic, but most homebuilts today are built of plywood and either painted or covered in a layer of fiberglass and resin.
Boat propulsion
The most common means are:
- Human power (rowing, paddling, setting pole etc.)
- Wind power (Sailsing)
- Motor powered Propeller
in
Poole Harbour,
Dorset, England. This is the largest class of UK
lifeboat at 17 metres long
Why boats float
See also buoyancy
A boat stays afloat because its weight is equal to that of the water it
displacement (fluid). The material of the boat itself may be heavier than water (
per volume), but it forms only the outer layer. Inside it is air, which is negligible in weight. But it
does add to the volume. The central term here is density, which is mass ('weight') per volume. The mass of the boat (plus contents)
as a whole has to be divided by the volume
below the waterline. If the boat floats, then that is equal to the density of water (1 kg/l). To the water it is as if there is water there because the
average density is the same. If weight is added to the boat, the volume below the waterline will have to increase too, to keep the mass/weight balance equal, so the boat sinks a little to compensate.
External links
- World of Boats Boat museum in Scotland
- Hull Identification Numbers Explanation of International HIN formats
- University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections -- Freshwater and Marine Image Bank -- Vessels Images of boats and vessels.
- ConceptBoat.Dee-London.com - Southampton Boat Show 2007 photos
BoatShop24: homepage | Boats for sale, new & used boats and outboards ...
Buy and sell new boats and used boats including yachts for sale, cruisers, ribs, engines and outboards. Formerly boats-for-sale.com we offer FREE private classified ads for boats ...
Boats.co.uk, The Boating, Sailing and Yachting Links Site(index.htm)
boats for sale, boat insurance, chandlers, olympic sailing. Welcome to The Boats.co.uk, Boating, Sailing and Yachting Links Site. Here you will find links to such things as
Tate Boat
The Tate Boat runs every forty minutes during gallery opening hours between Tate Britain and Tate Modern and also stops at the London Eye. Timetable
Boats for Sale UK & Ireland - Findafishingboat.com
The website for commercial fishermen. Boats for sale, free weather charts and more. ... Proposed changes for under 10m fishing vessels Are you aware of the proposals for under 10m ...
Boat Trips in London on the Canal
London Canal Museum Pages ... Everybody loves a boat trip! There are a mixture of regular and occasional boat trips available on the canals in London, enabling you to see a ...
PSP Southampton Boat Show - Enjoy everything about boating in one ...
Every September in Southampton's Mayflower Park.
National Boat Caravan and Outdoor Show
National Boat Caravan and Outdoor Show. 110,000* people looking to buy the latest caravans, motorhomes, boats, park homes, holiday homes, tents and outdoor accessories visited the ...
Canal Boat Holidays:Narrowboat Hire:Narrow Boat Holidays - Kate Boats
Quality Narrowboat hire on the Grand Union Canal in the heart of England.
London International Boat Show :: 11-20 January 2008 at ExCeL
The 54th Collins Stewart London Boat Show, in association with Daily Mail, has now ended. The Show returns between 9-18th January 2009. If you visited the Show, we hope that you ...
Glass Boat Restaurant Bristol
Floating restaurant located in Welsh Back serving European cuisine. Features virtual reality tour, menus, reviews and functions information.
