General boating

General boating

Industry: Boat

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General boating

Fly by night

Boat; General boating

A large sail used only for sailing downwind, requiring little attention.

Spinnaker

Boat; General boating

A large sail flown in front of the vessel while heading downwind.

Hitch

Boat; General boating

A knot used to tie a rope or line to a fixed object. Also see bend.

In-water survey

Boat; General boating

A method of surveying the underwater parts of a ship while it is still afloat instead of having to drydock it for examination of these areas as was conventionally done.

Sonar

Boat; General boating

A method of using sound pulses to detect, range and sometime image underwater targets and obstacles, or the bed of the sea. Also see echo sounding and ASDIC.

Transom

Boat; General boating

A more or less flat surface across the stern of a vessel. Dinghies tend to have almost vertical transoms, whereas yachts' transoms may be raked forward or aft.

Outboard motor

Boat; General boating

A motor mounted externally on the transom of a small boat. The boat may be steered by twisting the whole motor, instead of or in addition to using a rudder.