boat

boat, generic term for small watercraft propelled by paddles, oars, sail, or motor, open or partially decked, and usually less than 45 feet (roughly 14 metres) in length. A vessel larger than this is customarily classed as a ship, although the word boat is often applied to certain working vessels—such as tugboats—that may be of considerable size.

The early forms of the boat were many, and their design and structure depended upon available material. Where suitable timber was at hand, the raft and later the dugout canoe developed. Where suitable timber was not available, reed and bamboo rafts, skin-covered canoes, and skin floats made by inflating the hides of small animals could be found. In some timbered areas bark canoes were used. It may be assumed that the boat developed from the canoe forms; it is evident that boats did not appear until long after various forms of canoes came into being.

During the evolution of the dugout canoe the sides were raised by means of planks, and this led to gradual reduction in size of the dugout portion until it became a mere keel piece, with the rest of the hull built of plank. However, there is reason to doubt that the development of the plank boat was confined to areas where dugout canoes were used. The bark canoe and the skin boat were employed in some timbered areas, and the rigid framing of the skin boat may have been adapted naturally to plank construction. This possibility is supported by the fact that the longitudinal and transverse framing of most planked boats is basically the same as that employed in skin boats.

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The development of early watercraft of each of the basic forms was more rapid in some areas than in others because of varying needs for water transportation. A great many types of early craft survived into the modern era, and some are still in use. Many were of relatively large size and of excellent design for the tasks they had to perform.

Rafts and dugouts

The raft, made of timbers lashed or pegged together, was in some cases a mere float, heavy and awkward to propel. However, in a few instances, the raft was developed into an efficient sailing craft with a raised platform that enabled cargo to be carried and protected from water. Rafts made of bundles of reeds lashed together, given a somewhat pointed bow and rudimentary sides, were also used.

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Dugouts range from simple, trough-shaped hulls to beautifully formed boats with the sides spread, after shaping, by warping with hot water. In another form, the dugout consists of a number of shaped logs fastened together to form a hull. A more common design employs a main dugout hull with the sides raised by means of planks secured by pegs or by "sewing," done by passing lashings through holes along the seams of the planking. It is but a short step from the dugout with plank sides to a boat built solely of plank, using sewed fastenings. Sewed construction was extensively used in South Pacific canoes. The ancient Egyptians built boats of short pieces of plank, laid like bricks in a wall, but used edge-fastenings instead of sewing the seams.

Bark and skin craft

Bark canoes developed in a few areas, ranging in design from craft having only the most elementary framing to the highly developed birchbark canoes of the North American Indians. The birchbark canoes had a thin plank lining held against the inside of the bark cover by an extensive framing of ribs forced under the gunwale. So efficient were these canoes that European explorers copied them for wilderness travel. Skin craft range from inflated skins, used singly or joined together in a raft, to framed hulls of good form and construction. In the latter there is a rigid frame composed of longitudinals and ribs secured by lashings or pegs, and the skins are stretched over the completed framework. Of particular note are sealskin kayaks of the Eskimo people of North America.

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Plank construction

The lapstrake type of planking, in which each plank or strake overlaps slightly the one below it, can be seen in an elementary form in some dugouts with plank sides. In early forms the lap is sewed its full length. The lapstrake planking method appears to have reached its final form in northern Europe, where iron fastenings were used. As seen in the remains of ancient European craft, the seams were nailed at the laps but the planking was lashed to the ribs or frames. The use of metal fastenings throughout the hull did not become common, apparently, until about the 9th century in northern Europe. Caravel planking has smooth seams, with the planks placed edge to edge and fastened only to the frames. This originated in the Mediterranean basin; possibly it evolved from the older edge-fastened plank construction of the Egyptians. However, it took its name from a class of ships built in Spain and Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries. Plank construction did not become common in Europe until metal fastenings were procurable, although pegged construction was probably used in an early stage of evolution.

The basic framework of planked boats of the conventional lapstrake or caravel forms is the same: a keel and transverse frames or ribs more or less evenly spaced along the length of the boat. At the gunwale or top edges of the planking there are longitudinals, and sometimes a little below the gunwale there are additional longitudinals to support the rowing seats or thwarts. In the early boats the frames were cut from "knees" or crooked timber, but early in the 19th century steam-bent frames came into use. One marked difference between lapstrake- and caravel-planked boats is that the former usually had ribs put in after the planking was complete whereas the caravel boat was commonly planked over the ribs. Lapstrake boats do not have the seams caulked except along the keel. Moss was used to caulk the Viking boats, while animal hair and textile materials were used in ancient Mediterranean boats. Tar was placed over the caulking to fill the seams. The lapstrake and caravel planking, combined with the basic framework, have been retained as conventional methods of boatbuilding.