I'd say size and money. Boat -> Yacht -> Ship, with Ship being more for commercial applications. But sometimes it goes full circle, calling really big ships 'boats'. On another note, I think an electric sailboat would be pretty cool. No stinky diesel motor to ruin the quiet and clean experience of being on the water. Put the batteries in the keel!
A yacht is a vessel that meets the following criteria: -It is a vessel that is used for personal recreation. A pleasure boat. -It is a vessel that is capable of navigating on a body of water. -Yachts have facilities for eating, sleeping and taking care of nature's calls. These features can be very simple or quite luxurious. -Most importantly, a yacht is any boat that meets all the above criteria and is larger than yours. There is a definition of "ship" in Chapman's but my copy of it is on the boat.
Wikipedia is your friend: Ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Boat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia TL;DR: A boat is a naval vessel small enough to be carried on a ship, or more leniently, lifted out of the water.
That's an oxymoron. On a more serious note, whether you call your vessel a ship, yacht or boat depends on the size of your ego and how much rum you've had to drink.
That would make the USS Cole a boat. http://captsan.com/USS_Cole_on_Transport_Ship_2.jpg NigelM’s definition sounds like the most accurate one to me. :tongue: GSP
I thought the same. Or more trolling. Why ask this question here on TMC??? And then he got like six in-depth answers. Go figure...
The OP was determined to be a spammer. I moved this thread off topic if you guys want to continue to discuss boats. Be wary of first time posters saying things that seem slightly off. The moderators work hard such that you never see the vast majority of the spam. However, seemingly innocuous stuff like this may slip through from time to time.