Watercraft

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
A dinghy
A 17th-century sailing raft in Paita harbour (Peru).[1]: 198 

A watercraft or waterborne vessel is any

water bodies, such as a boat, ship, hovercraft, submersible or submarine
.

Types

Watercraft can be grouped into surface vessels, which include ships,

paddleboards;[2] underwater vessels, which include submarines, submersibles, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), wet subs and diver propulsion vehicles; and amphibious vehicles, which include hovercraft, car boats, amphibious ATVs and seaplanes
. Many of these watercraft have a variety of subcategories and are used for different needs and applications.

Design

The design of watercraft requires a tradeoff among internal capacity (

computer modeling and ship model basin testing before construction.[3]

Propulsion

A Severn-class lifeboat in Poole Harbour, Dorset, England.

Watercraft propulsion can be divided into five categories.

  • Water power is used by drifting with a river current or a tidal stream. An anchor or weight may be lowered to provide enough
    drudging
    ) or paddles or poles might be used to keep position.
  • Human effort is used through a pole pushing against the bottom of shallow water, or paddles or oars operating in the surface of the water.
  • Wind power is used by sails
  • Towing is used, either from the land, such as the bank of a
    draught animals
    , humans or machinery, or one watercraft may tow another.
  • Mechanical propulsion uses a
    motor whose power is derived from burning a fuel or stored energy such as batteries. This power is commonly converted into propulsion by propellers or by water jets, with paddle wheels being a largely historical method.[4]
    : 33 

Any one watercraft might use more than one of these methods at different times or in conjunction with each other. For instance, early steamships often set sails to work alongside the engine power. Before steam tugs became common, sailing vessels would

back and fill their sails to maintain a good position in a tidal stream while drifting with the tide in or out of a river. In a modern yacht, motor-sailing – travelling under the power of both sails and engine – is a common method of making progress, if only in and out of harbour.[4]: 33–34 [5]: 199–202 [6]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9781473825598.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  2. .
  3. ^ Tupper, Eric (1996). Introduction to Naval Architecture. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann.
  4. ^ .
  5. .
  6. ^ "Glossary of Nautical Terms M". Practical Boat Owner. 11 November 2014.

External links