Still & Wake

Parts of a boat: a labelled guide

Two simple diagrams, a sailing boat and a motorboat, then the parts explained in plain words. Useful before a first trip, or before you buy a print for someone who'll spot a wrongly named part.

A classic wooden yacht heeled hard and beating to windward
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Labelled diagram: a sailing boat

The bow points left and the stern right. The mast holds up both sails, the forestay and backstay keep it standing, and the boom holds the foot of the mainsail. Under the water, the keel stops the boat sliding sideways and the rudder, moved by the tiller, steers her.

Line illustration of a small sailing yacht side-on, labelled: mast, forestay, backstay, jib, mainsail, boom, tiller, bow, stern, hull, keel, rudderMastForestayBackstayJibMainsailBoomTillerBowSternHullKeelRudder
Simplified; real rigs vary.

Labelled diagram: a motorboat

Again the bow is on the left. The windscreen and cabin sit forward, the open cockpit is behind them, and the outboard engine hangs on the transom, the flat back of the hull. The guard rail runs along the deck to stop you going over the side.

Line illustration of a small cabin motorboat side-on, labelled: bow, guard rail, windscreen, cabin, cockpit, outboard, transom, hullBowGuard railWindscreenCabinCockpitOutboardTransomHull
A small cabin motorboat, simplified.

The hull: bow, stern, keel, transom, beam

The hull is the main body of the boat. The bow is the front end and the stern the back. On many boats the stern ends in a flat transom.

The keel is the main lengthwise structural member along the bottom, the backbone the frames are fixed to. The beam is the boat's width at its widest point.

If you're buying a print of someone's boat, these are the lines they'll notice first. Our sailing prints show hulls from dinghies to classic yachts.

On deck: cockpit, cleats, winches

The cockpit is the recessed area towards the stern of a small boat, where it's steered from. A cleat is a fitting with two horns, used to make a rope fast. A winch is a drum turned by a handle, used to haul in ropes under load.

The rig: mast, boom, stays and shrouds

The mast is the vertical spar that carries the sails. The boom is the spar along the bottom of the mainsail, which swings to set the sail to the wind. Stays and shrouds are the wires that hold the mast up; the forestay runs forward to the bow.

Sails: mainsail, jib, genoa, spinnaker

The mainsail is the largest, lowest sail on the main mast. A jib is a triangular sail set in front of the mast, and a genoa is a large jib whose foot can reach back as far as the mainsail's clew. A spinnaker is a large, light sail used for sailing downwind.

Steering: rudder and tiller

The rudder is the blade under the stern that steers the boat. On small boats it's moved with a tiller, a lever fixed to the top of the rudder post.

Below deck: cabin, galley, heads

A small yacht cabin with blue bunk cushions, portholes and varnished timber.
The cabin: shelter, and somewhere to sleep.

The cabin is the covered space for shelter or living. The galley is the boat's kitchen, and the heads is the toilet.

Know every part of their boat already? Then a print of it is the gift: we can print their boat from a photo. For something ready-made, our ship prints show every spar and sail.

Sources

Written by Craig Fearn, Still & Wake. Last updated .

Craig Fearn runs Still & Wake. He writes the guides and journal.

Questions, answered

What is the front of a boat called?
The bow. Collins defines it as the forward end of a vessel.
What is the back of a boat called?
The stern, the rear part of the vessel. The flat surface that forms the stern on many boats is the transom.
What is the difference between a jib and a genoa?
Both are triangular sails in front of the mast. A genoa is a large jib whose foot can reach back as far as the clew of the mainsail.