Raft vs. Boat - what's the difference

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by janelouis, Aug 3, 2010.

  1. janelouis
    Joined: Aug 2010
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    janelouis New Member

    Hello all, I am a new member. I participate in the annual Connecticut River Raft Race, see ctriverraftrace.org.

    I need an authoritative definition of what makes a raft vs. a boat. Can some kind person enlighten me?

    Thanks!
     
  2. hoytedow
    Joined: Sep 2009
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    Rafts are more designed to drift and are not hydrodynamically designed for speed or efficiency having as their main quality the ability to float when occupied. Boats have a pointy end and a motory end or a sail and have all the positive features of a raft but hydrodynamic advantages of efficiently moving in the direction you want them to go.
     
  3. lewisboats
    Joined: Oct 2002
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    lewisboats Obsessed Member

    To paraphrase hoyt...

    One goes pretty much where YOU want and the other goes pretty much where IT wants.
     
  4. janelouis
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    janelouis New Member

    Thanks, folks!
     
  5. Vulkyn
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    Vulkyn Senior Member

    Thumbs up for that explanation .....
     
    1 person likes this.
  6. janelouis
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    janelouis New Member

    Actually, I'd have to give that 2 thumbs up!!

    If anyone cares to look, www.ctriverraftrace.org is where our crafts can be seen. We do human powered rafts (or boats?) for fun and for charity. All very home made! We were invited to participate in a newly organized raft race, but questions have been raised as to whether or not we had a raft. I guess we are a hybrid of sorts?
     
  7. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    IMHO, I think it is a little more simple. A raft you ride on, a boat you ride in. Huck Finn used a raft, Mike Fink used a keel boat, both drifted down river. Kon Tiki was a raft, Ra was a boat, both were steered (sort of) and sailed.
     
  8. larry larisky

    larry larisky Previous Member

    raft is wet :p
     
  9. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    A Boat

    Tugboat Annie
     

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  10. hoytedow
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    hoytedow Carbon Based Life Form

    A Raft

    George Raft
     

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  11. mydauphin
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    mydauphin Senior Member

    A raft sits on the water, a boat in it.....
     
  12. GTO
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    GTO Senior Member

    But that would mean a raft has 0 displacement, therefore weightless.
    Would that mean a raft is actually alien space technology with a counter-grav generator onboard???

    I WANT A RAFT!!!!
     
  13. Vulkyn
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    Vulkyn Senior Member

    OK this is taking a rather strange turn .....

    Sitting on the water does not mean it has 0 displacement ... but more than zero, there for its not alien technology but strange crystalline composite polymer made by the Atlantians ....
     
  14. Submarine Tom

    Submarine Tom Previous Member

    R.A.F.T.: Rare Artifact For Travelling

    No?

    -Tom
     

  15. Petros
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    Petros Senior Member

    A raft is usually something make shift, or for emergency use. The term originally meant it had beams or members running in both directions.

    I think a good working definition, already given, would be the ability to control where it goes. It would draw the line between a raft and boat.

    Though many of the craft on in your contest are way beyond a raft and are really boats. Are there any rules for that contest?
     
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