Mark42
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2003
- Messages
- 9,334
This is just an FYI and your comments are welcome.
Over the last few months I noticed the use of the term "sole" used to describe the floor of the typical small craft owned by members on these forums. Never having read the term "sole" in a boat I decided to learn more about boat parts names, and this is what I found regarding Sole and Deck:
"Sole" as I can find it, is exclusively used to describe the interior floors in yachts. I never found "sole" used to describe the floor or any part of a small motor craft. When searching for boating terms, "sole" is often not even on the list of descriptive terms.
"Deck" is used to describe a number of boat parts. In a small runabout like the blue MFG Niagara in my signature, both the floor and the area in front of the windshield are called decks. Any exterior horizontal surface can be called a deck. Any horizontal surface that covers a compartment (like a bilge) can be called a deck. There are Fore decks and Aft decks. You can be Above deck and Below deck. On an air craft carrier, the term "deck" is used to describe dozens of parts of the ship. The term "deck" pretty much covers any horizontal exterior surface of a boat.
Another term that appears to be mis-used is "cockpit". A Cockpit by strict definition is the recessed area on a deck (it is below the deck surface) where the Helmsman is stationed to control the wheel or tiller of a boat. This is a term I found almost exclusively used to describe an area on a sailboat. In ships and yachts it is sometimes called the Wheelhouse or Bridge. The closest commonly used term I could find to describe where the captian sits in a small craft is "helm", as in "he is seated at the helm". Althoug I think "cockpit" is a good term to describe the captians seat in a small motor craft.
Myself, I like to keep things simple. So "deck" works for me to describe any part of a small craft you walk on. And I do like Cockpit for the helm area. But I'm flexable. Like I've posted before, use sole if you like, I'l know what you mean.
Over the last few months I noticed the use of the term "sole" used to describe the floor of the typical small craft owned by members on these forums. Never having read the term "sole" in a boat I decided to learn more about boat parts names, and this is what I found regarding Sole and Deck:
"Sole" as I can find it, is exclusively used to describe the interior floors in yachts. I never found "sole" used to describe the floor or any part of a small motor craft. When searching for boating terms, "sole" is often not even on the list of descriptive terms.
"Deck" is used to describe a number of boat parts. In a small runabout like the blue MFG Niagara in my signature, both the floor and the area in front of the windshield are called decks. Any exterior horizontal surface can be called a deck. Any horizontal surface that covers a compartment (like a bilge) can be called a deck. There are Fore decks and Aft decks. You can be Above deck and Below deck. On an air craft carrier, the term "deck" is used to describe dozens of parts of the ship. The term "deck" pretty much covers any horizontal exterior surface of a boat.
Another term that appears to be mis-used is "cockpit". A Cockpit by strict definition is the recessed area on a deck (it is below the deck surface) where the Helmsman is stationed to control the wheel or tiller of a boat. This is a term I found almost exclusively used to describe an area on a sailboat. In ships and yachts it is sometimes called the Wheelhouse or Bridge. The closest commonly used term I could find to describe where the captian sits in a small craft is "helm", as in "he is seated at the helm". Althoug I think "cockpit" is a good term to describe the captians seat in a small motor craft.
Myself, I like to keep things simple. So "deck" works for me to describe any part of a small craft you walk on. And I do like Cockpit for the helm area. But I'm flexable. Like I've posted before, use sole if you like, I'l know what you mean.