Types of boat
There are several types of boats: sailing boats, motor boats,
catamarans, gulets and luxury yachts. They can be chartered
bareboat, skippered or fully crewed. The choice of boats depends
upon several factors: the sailor's experience and competence in
navigation - whether one possesses the skipper's licence or not,
the number of passengers, and the budget that one disposes of. The
equipment on the boat is also one of the deciding factors when
chartering a boat.
Structure of the boat
The main structure of most boats is made up by the following
components:
- hull- main structural component of the boat
providing buoyancy for the boat.
- gunnel- the sides of the boat offering
protection from the water and making the boat harder to sink
- deck- roughly horizontal, but chambered
structures spanning the hull of the boat
- cabin -enclosed space on a boat where the
passengers and the crew abide
- keel - lengthwise structural member to which
the frames are fixed (backbone of the boat).
- bow - front (or forward end) of the boat
- stern - therear (or aft end) of the boat
- starboard - the right side (facing forward) of
the boat
- port - the left side oft he boat.
- rudder and propeller - the rudder steers the
boat, driven by one or more screw propellers.
Boats are made of different materials, some modern ones used more
often nowadays, while the traditional shipbuilding has regained its
popularity over the past years. Most common materials used in
shipbuilding have been: wood, iron, steel (frames, planked in
wood), ferro-cement (Ferciment), aluminium, glass-reinforced
plastic (fibreglass), advanced composites (carbon fibre, kevlar or
other similar materials), even foam or plastic.