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Identifying sections of hull


hackenbush

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The back is called the stern. The front is called the bow. The front of the front is called the prow.

On a narrowboat specifically, everything changes. The front is called the fore end. At the stern, the bit you stand on is the counter. The side bits you can just about walk along are the gunwales. (Or gunnels to the less articulate.)

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Some insist that there's no port and starboard on a narrowboat, it's left and right.  

The area above the top rubbing strake, or between the strake and the gunnels  (or side decks) which is often painted the same colour as the cabin, is known as the top bends or topsides.

Where the hull sides taper in towards the propeller is the swim, and the flat plate above the swim is the uxter plate.  

Going into any more detail is going to start an argument so I'll leave my contribution there.

 

 

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Don't forget the chines which come in several varieties. A narrow boat is normally a 2 chine hull with a flat bottom and a almost vertical sides. A plastic 'gin palace' commonly has 3 chines, this means it can go faster between pubs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chine_(boating)

Edited by Flyboy
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Originally it would have been port side & steer board side; this is because early sailing vessels had a rudder board mounted on one side rather than centrally (take a look at a Viking long boat or similar era vessel). 

When docking you would keep the steer board on the off side so that it didn't get damaged against the dock, hence steer board side facing away from the bank and port side against the dock. This is probably why boats still pass port side to port side, passing steer board to steer board side could risk damage to the non existent steer board side rudder.

I have no idea when it became starboard side though but I suspect it is just lazy speech over time.

As noted earlier narrow boats don't have a port or starboard side but simply left and right; I have no idea if this is so but it kind of makes sense as even the earliest narrowboats had a central rudder

 

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I assumed there was a need differentiate depending on the view point, like near-side and off-side on a vehicle. If you ask people which is the left-hand head light when viewing a car from the front, a reckon a fair proportion would pick the off-side one.

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19 minutes ago, stegra said:

I assumed there was a need differentiate depending on the view point, like near-side and off-side on a vehicle. If you ask people which is the left-hand head light when viewing a car from the front, a reckon a fair proportion would pick the off-side one.

After a year living on board my girlfriend still has trouble with what is in front of the boat and what is behind. Her logic is that as we enter and leave the boat via the stern doors she considers this to be the front door, whereas I keep pointing out to her that the pointy end is the front

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6 hours ago, Naughty Cal said:

Well you have the pointy end and the R Send.

That bit I knew already.

Thanks for your replies. There is a reason for this. I'm trying to describe the area of the hull where there were lots of holes in the steel before I had it repaired. The best I can come up with is the part at the side, some above and some below waterline. Seems a little vague

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33 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Do you know why ?

A tan was a mark of the lower classes.

Funny how fashion changes. Pale skin meant you weren't a worker. Obesity meant you could afford to eat well, and rotten teeth meant you could afford expensive sugar. So pallid, fat and toothless meant you were hot stuff. Form an orderly queue!

Edited by stegra
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34 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Do you know why ?

 

7 minutes ago, stegra said:

A tan was a mark of the lower classes.

In the 'old-days' cruise liners plied their trade from England to the USA, and, being North of the equator when heading from 'home' to the USA the Sun was on the Port side and the cabin much lighter, warmer and more comfortable, the 'Starboard' side cabins were dark, gloomy and cold. On the return journey, the situation was reversed, hence you boked a Portside cabin for the outward journey, and a starboard side cabin for the homeward journey.

Prices were higher for the 'sunny' side of the ship and it became so popular that the people who could afford the premium became know as 'POSH'.

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22 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

In the 'old-days' cruise liners plied their trade from England to the USA, and, being North of the equator when heading from 'home' to the USA the Sun was on the Port side and the cabin much lighter, warmer and more comfortable, the 'Starboard' side cabins were dark, gloomy and cold. On the return journey, the situation was reversed, hence you boked a Portside cabin for the outward journey, and a starboard side cabin for the homeward journey.

Prices were higher for the 'sunny' side of the ship and it became so popular that the people who could afford the premium became know as 'POSH'.

In the "olden days" passenger ships trading to the USA  were mostly passenger liners,  not cruise liners, (there is a difference) and for a large part of the time there was (and still is) not too much sunshine for large parts of the year in any event! The story about POSH refers more to the passenger ships which traded Eastwards to India, China and Australia. P&O, among others, are supposed to have marked the luggage POSH to mark Port(outwards) Starboard (homewards) relating to the cabin allocation. However, despite Chitty Bang Bang I think this has now been disproved as a myth! ^_^

Howard

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2 hours ago, stegra said:

Is that looking from the front or the back? :huh:

It's also confusing on rivers ie the left side of the boat could be on the right side of the river.  You could say revert to standard nautical terminology when on rivers but the idea that you use different terminology for the same boat depending on whether it's on a river or canal is ridiculous, IMHO.  

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14 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

It's also confusing on rivers ie the left side of the boat could be on the right side of the river.  You could say revert to standard nautical terminology when on rivers but the idea that you use different terminology for the same boat depending on whether it's on a river or canal is ridiculous, IMHO.  

All aircraft use the same terminology for port and starboard except navy aircraft who use left and right; this is so they don't get confused with the port and starboard of a ship, especially the aircraft carrier they are trying to land on

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1 hour ago, Bewildered said:

After a year living on board my girlfriend still has trouble with what is in front of the boat and what is behind. Her logic is that as we enter and leave the boat via the stern doors she considers this to be the front door, whereas I keep pointing out to her that the pointy end is the front

I used to struggle with this but then just thought Bow Thruster, Stern Gland to work out which is which.

Tim

Edited by Tim Lewis
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On 27/03/2017 at 16:47, Neil2 said:

It's also confusing on rivers ie the left side of the boat could be on the right side of the river.  

 

And it gets even more confusing if instead of the left side of the boat being on the right side of the river, its on the wrong side.

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