Difference between boats and ships

[parkstone bay]

It was always said in my family that a yacht is defined as a "sailing boat used for racing or pleasure". [just for slower readers, the word "or" suggests that racing is not pleasurable. Mind you, when you're sitting on the rail in freezing rain, with 30 knots of breeze across the deck, with at least another 2 hours to go before you finish, maybe there's a point!]

[rupertfb]

When referring to commissioned vessels in the Royal Navy, a vessel over 15m is a ship.

[Redline452]

Originally Posted by lestersails

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that insist on dividing everything into two categories and those who don't.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.


(yes, a tad offtopic... so sue me. I'll be on my yacht... boat... er, sailing vessel)

[uptickguru]

Originally Posted by Redline452

There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.


(yes, a tad offtopic... so sue me. I'll be on my yacht... boat... er, sailing vessel)

Laughs, of those 10 people who understand binary there are 1/16 who understand Hexidecimal and 3 who understand Octal

(Even more off topic but there is no wind for my target, ship, yacht,boat, sailing vessel and I still have internet )

[Stumpert]

When I was a kid at Naval College in Europe (1960)

I was taut that the difference between and boat and a ship was its actual tonnage.

All vessels over 15 gross tonnes were ships those under were boats.

The actual tonnage measurement is based on cubic capacity derived from a standard format and not on weight. Basically a certain measured capacity divided by 100 cubic feet per tonne (Ton)

i.e Gross Tonnage, Net Tonnage are legal tonnage measurements of a an international standard format and are used for paying Port Dues, Canal Dues and Pilotage charges etc., in association usually with the length. All international ships cary Certified Tonnage Certificates, usually issued through one of the recognized Survey Certifying Marine Societies such As ABS(American Bureau Of Shipping) DNv (Det Noerske Veritas) Lloyd's etc.

The Suez Canal Tonnage Rules and The Panama Canal Tonnage measurements being slightly different from the registered Net and Gross Tonnage.

I always assumed that this definition was legal one. But don't know if I have ever see it written anywhere.

[A CheeseHead]

Originally Posted by uptickguru

Laughs, of those 10 people who understand binary there are 1/16 who understand Hexidecimal and 3 who understand Octal

(Even more off topic but there is no wind for my target, ship, yacht,boat, sailing vessel and I still have internet )

Dude, I am one of those three, can still look at a binary switch register and read octal. 52 years ago I had to, and still can. Now, why can I not find my keys?

[Briggers]

Originally Posted by Cliffhanger

I always thought that a boat is a small vessel and a ship is a large, commercial or naval vessel requiring a crew to operate.

But I have noticed many posts referring to small sailing vessels as ships. It seems to mostly be Americans, so, I am wondering if there is a different definition in the US?

My next question will be "what is a yacht", but lets start with the easy one first....

I was always told that ships carry boats, lifeboats.

And a yacht is what some know nothing rich kid calls his motor cruiser

[uptickguru]

Originally Posted by A CheeseHead

Dude, I am one of those three, can still look at a binary switch register and read octal. 52 years ago I had to, and still can. Now, why can I not find my keys?

Same here, Laughs, I remember the days of hand coding without a compiler. computing jumps tables and entry points. Thank god for sailboats, Visual Studio Code, and Good Single Malt Booze. I take it you understand the language of paper tapes, 9 track drives, and IBM 370 too. Cheers!

[Senojev]

... to further add to the confusion, on the Great Lakes, a thousand foot freighter is traditionally called a "boat."

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by uptickguru

Same here, Laughs, I remember the days of hand coding without a compiler. computing jumps tables and entry points. Thank god for sailboats, Visual Studio Code, and Good Single Malt Booze. I take it you understand the language of paper tapes, 9 track drives, and IBM 370 too. Cheers!

Toggle in your hand compiled code on the front panel or punch a card with a stylus?

[tdgaffney]

As I recall, a ship can carry a boat, but a boat cannot carry a ship.


Now, more to the point of this website:

A "yacht" is what I own. A "boat" is anything smaller.

[Ike]

A quote from my Boating Safety website

Boat: generally used to describe a vessel that is under 65 feet but may be applied to some vessels up to 100 feet. Boat used to be defined as any vessel that could be hauled aboard a larger vessel, but this is no longer in general use. Anything larger is a ship. Exceptions: Ferry Boat, a submarine, a tug boat. https://newboatbuilders.com/boating/nomenclature.html

Having worked in the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety we occasionally got asked this question about what is a boat? In the USA as far as I know (34 years of experience) there is no legal definition of boat. However there is a legal definition of a "Vessel" as any means of transportation on the water, and a recreational vessel is defined as a vessel used for pleasure. This is paraphrased, as it is is early morning and I am too lazy to look up the actual wording.

Personally I like the definition of the difference between a boat and a yacht that defines it as ladies being invited and ladies inviting themselves.

Anyway there are lots of things beside submarines that are called boats, such as ferry boats, tug boats, fishing boats, etc. The Coast Guard and Navy have had sea going tug boats that were over 200 feet long and still called boats. So the term boat is ambiguous and its use is more based on cultural usage. So is ship. Ever hear a child's boat called a "little ship"

This is one of those threads that can go on forever and serves to keep us busy during winter and the pandemic, when we have nothing better to do while waiting for spring, until we can launch our boat and go sailing or fishing, or whatever we like to do. (how's that for run on sentence?)

[Karlt]

In the Navy, the senior NCO is called "Chief of the Boat".

[captndale]

In the Great Lakes, all self-powered vessels are called boats. So, we have boats and barges.

[stefnieman]

Originally Posted by Cliffhanger

I always thought that a boat is a small vessel and a ship is a large, commercial or naval vessel requiring a crew to operate.

But I have noticed many posts referring to small sailing vessels as ships. It seems to mostly be Americans, so, I am wondering if there is a different definition in the US?

My next question will be "what is a yacht", but lets start with the easy one first....

A Yacht is an sailing vessel, everything else is a boat or a vessel😁😁😁