Do yachts, boats, ships etc, have milometers?

Question

and if not how are the miles travelled recorded

Answer 1

No. Boats, ships, etc don't have "milometers". They record their engine hours, and RPMs. If they are doing what they are supposed to do and resetting the trip miles on the GPS at the start of each trip then you can know how far it went. On a boat it is not as important how many miles it went as it is on a car. On a car you have the tires, suspension, brakes, all those things need to be replaced. On a boat you just have an engine and sometimes sails. You know when to replace certain parts, like the oil, when the engine hours reach a certain point. That is why boats don't have "milometers".

Answer 2

I dont think they record miles, they record hours used

Answer 3

These days they are plotted by GPS.

In pre GPS days it was done by dead reckoning and a combination of wind speed, current velocity, course, heading and engine revolutions. Dead reckoning is a euphemism for guesswork.

Answer 4

I think you're right about delivery hours.  If I ordered a brand new yacht, I wouldn't want it delivered with 100 hours on it already.  :)  It's like ordering a car and they drive it to you from the manufacturer. It would be used when it got there!!

Answer 5

Good lord I cant believe anyone got this so far...........

yes, boats have engine hour meters, and yes boats kept track of distance traveled by measuring speed and  writing it down every hour

but they also have something called a knot meter which, just like a cars odometer keeps track of miles traveled, either by a very small paddle wheel that sticks out the bottom of the boat, or a small torpedo shaped device that you towed behind you and it recorded miles on a gauge just like on the dashboard of a car.

and yes boats and ships kept and keep VERY close watch on how far they have gone..only way  to know when and where they might be running into something!

Answer 6

HELLO

BOAT ENGINES ARE RECORDED AS HOURS RUN

BOAT BY WHEN IT WAS BUILT

SOME BOATS GO TO PLACES LIKE LAKE WINDEMERE WHICH IS NOT ACCESSIBLE BY SEA

WE USED TO SEND SAIL BOATS BY LORRY AROUND BRITAIN AND ABROAD ON FERRIES AS YOU CANNOT TELL HOW LONG DELIVERY WOULD TAKE BY SEA, IF  THE CLIENT WANTED IT BY A CERTAIN DATE WE BUILT IT TESTED IT STRIPED IT DOWN AND SENT IT BY LORRY AND WE KNEW WHEN IT WOULD GET THERE AND BE REBUILT.

POWER BOATS WERE THE SAME UNLESS TO FRANCE ETC AS TOP END 35-40 MPH  MEANT SEA DELIVERY POSSIBLE DUE TO REACHING REFUEL ON FUEL AVAILABLE, WE USED DELIVERY CAPTAINS TO DO THIS JOB REQUIRED

Answer 7

Apart from anything else, it is quicker by road (given no hold ups) than to transport a boat by water.

I'm a canal boater and we are limited to the directions the canals travel, junctions are few and far between and we cruise at about 3 miles an hour.

We went to a boat Festival last week and it would normally take us about 3 days to get to it by canal; it took two hours mostly by motorway.

Answer 8

My buddy Yankee was sooo close he ddeserves a thumbs up.

The rest are putzes. Porperly fitted out boats have a Knotmeter(as Yankee Mentions). Hour meters are for engines...jeez.

HOWEVER...within that knotmeter(which measures speed in the water) is the vessel's KNOTLOG(which logs distance) it's a little odometer just like in cars in older units or it is digital.

Answer 9

Instead of odometers, they use hourmeters which tell how much the engine is actually used.

Answer 10

Engines have hourmeters.

Beyond that I guess it is up to the captain to keep an accurate log of miles traveled.