Westlawn Institute of Marine Technology
Definitions of: Boat, Yacht, Small Craft, and Related
Terms
Boat:
A boat
is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or operates on the water and is
under 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA). A boat
may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes. Boat is
synonymous with small craft in marine use.
The size
breakpoint between boat and ship is necessarily arbitrary;
however, Lloyds small-craft division deals with vessels under 60 meters.
Experience has also shown that below 60 meters LOA,
longitudinal-strength (hogging-and-sagging) calculations are usually trivial,
whereas over 60 meters these calculations become important. These are two firm
reasons for setting 60 meters as the division between boats and ships.
Ship:
A ship
is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or operates on the water and is
equal to or larger than 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA).
A ship may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes.
Length
Overall (LOA):
Length
overall (LOA)
is the length from the forwardmost tip of the bow to the aftermost end of the
stern of a vessel’s primary hull structure. Length overall (LOA)
does not include projections from the primary hull structure, such as:
anchor rollers, bowsprits, pushpits, railings, or swim or transom platforms (that
are not integral parts of the hull structure).
Yacht:
A yacht
is any moderately large vessel or conveyance that floats on the water which is used
for pleasure, not for commercial purposes. The exception is that some yachts
are chartered with professional crew to paying passengers, who then primarily
use the yacht for pleasure. Such a vessel is a charter yacht.
There is no
firm lower-end cut-off for the size of a yacht; however, it can generally
be said that a vessel or conveyance used on the water for pleasure,
approximately under 30 feet (9.1 meters) LOA is a not a yacht but
a pleasure boat or recreational boat (see below).
The word yacht
also connotes elegance and expense. Thus some pleasure boats under 30
feet (9.1 meters), which are particularly elegant or expensive, may
occasionally be called yachts. Example: When speaking of a particularly
beautiful and elegant 25-foot (7.6 meter) sailboat, one might say, “Now that’s
a real little yacht.”
Most yachts
are boats but not all yachts are boats. Some very large
vessels have been built entirely for private pleasure and pleasure-charter use,
a few over 400 feet (122 meters) LOA. Such vessels are ships that
are yachts. Very large yachts are often termed megayachts
or super yachts.
The word yachts
may also be used collectively to encompass a large group of boats used
primarily for pleasure, even if many of the boats are smaller than usual
to specifically be termed yachts on their own. Example: “The harbor is
filled with yachts.”
Megayacht:
Megayachts are yachts that are
generally over 100 feet (30.5 meters) LOA, though there is no firm
cut-off point on the lower-end of the size range.
Super
Yachts:
Super
yachts are yachts
that are generally over 150 feet (45.7 meters) LOA, though there is no
firm cut-off point on the lower-end of the size range. Many super yachts
are ships, not boats or small-craft.
Charter
Yacht:
A charter
yacht is a yacht employed primarily for recreational purposes, that is
principally operated by a professional crew for paying passengers who
themselves will primarily use the yacht for pleasure. Charter yachts
are really commercial vessels even though the word yacht applies to
them. Charter yachts must meet commercial requirements for passenger-carrying
vessels. In the U.S., this applies if they carry more
than six paying passengers.
Craft:
Craft are any vessel or conveyance that
operate in a fluid medium or a vacuum. Thus, boats are craft;
aircraft are craft; and spaceships, spacecraft, and space capsules are craft.
When applied to vessels or conveyances that float on the water, a craft
is any boat or ship of any size or type and of any use.
Small
Craft:
A small
craft, in a marine context, is any vessel or conveyance that floats on or
operates on the water and is under 197 feet (60 meters) length overall (LOA).
A small craft may be used for pleasure, commercial, or residential purposes.
Small craft is synonymous with boat in marine use. Though the
term craft applies to all vessels operating in a fluid medium, the term small
craft is only used when applied to boats.
Pleasure
Craft:
Pleasure
Craft, in a marine
context, are all boats used for recreational not commercial purposes.
Though the word craft applies to all sizes of vessels, by convention pleasure
craft are boats, and most commonly are small to moderate sized boats,
under approximately 80 feet (24.3 meters) LOA. Though the term craft applies
to all vessels operating in a fluid medium, the term pleasure craft is
only used when applied to boats.
The term pleasure
craft, or the terms listed as synonymous below, are commonly used to
describe smaller boats used for recreation, that are too small to be
termed yachts; however, pleasure craft over 30 feet (9.1 meters) LOA
may be properly called either yachts or pleasure craft, or any of
the synonymous terms below.
Pleasure
Vessel:
Synonymous
with pleasure craft.
Recreational
Vessel:
Synonymous
with pleasure craft.
Recreational
Boat:
Synonymous
with pleasure craft.
Pleasure
Boat:
Synonymous
with pleasure craft.
Personal
Watercraft (PWC):
Personal
watercraft (PWC)
are small vessels or conveyances that float on the water and are powered by
engines, commonly propelled by jet drives to achieve fairly high speeds,
usually in excess of 20 knots. PWC have no interior and are ridden by
sitting on top of and astride them as one rides a motorcycle.
Personal
water craft (PWC)
are generally not considered boats. PWC are usually under 15 feet
(4.6 meters) LOA.
Though personal
watercraft are not considered boats, they must obey the same rules
of the road as any boat of the same size, according to applicable
Federal and local law.