What's the difference between a ship and a boat?

Question

like which is which.

just curious.

thanks. :)

Answer 1

A vessel below 40 tons and 40 feet in length is a boat. However, submarines and fishing vessels are always known as boats whatever their size.

Answer 2

A boat can fit on a ship.  some think that a ship goes into saltwater and a boat is in fresh water.  It is also how it is register with the coast guard.

Answer 3

A boat could fit on a ship

Answer 4

Mostly the price, plus if you're trying to impress a lady, it's a ship, For the IRS, it's a boat.

Answer 5

A ship is a very big boat.

Answer 6

i am in the boat business,  you can put a boat on a ship but you can't put a ship on a boat

Answer 7

In the Royal navy a ship is a ship and a boat is a submarine

Answer 8

The term ship dates back to the age of sail when the ship rig was actually different than square rigging, gaff rigging, schooner rigging or sloop rigging, there was however a combination rig between square and ship. If you have an interest in that, Google Mystic Seaport and poke around their website. Nowadays a ship is, as stated below, capable of holding a boat and fishing boats as well as submarines aren't ships regardless of size.

Answer 9

According to "American Yachtsman", a boat is 40

feet or less in length, and a ship is anything over

40 feet.

Answer 10

Because they have been in our society for so long boats / ships and the like have many words to describe the same (or nearly the same) thing especialy compared to cars and aeroplanes which we have only had for a short period of time

Answer 11

Price.

Answer 12

Among sailing vessels, the distinction between ships and boats is that a ship is a square-rigged craft with at least three masts, and a boat isn't. With regard to motorized craft, a ship is a large vessel intended for oceangoing or at least deep-water transport, and a boat is anything else.

Answer 13

Size.

Way back when, when I went to boot camp after joining the Navy, the general rule was 40 feet, except for traditional usage for submarines and fishing boats. A good rule of thumb was a boat could be placed on a ship.

Answer 14

A ship can carry a boat on her deck.

That is the oldest and most accurate answer.

A 22' Vessel could carry a 4' boat on her decks, or a 500' Vessel could carry a 200' 'boat' on her deck.

The ratios are not exact or accurate, is just the way I learned it.

From internet is:

Boat: Small craft not normally suitable for sea passages but useful in sheltered waters and for short passages.

and:

Ship: A sea-going vessel. 2. Vessel having a certificate of registry. Technically, a sailing vessel having three or more masts with yards crossed on all of them. In Victorian times, any vessel with yards on three masts was termed a "ship" even if other masts were fore and aft rigged. To ship, is to put on or into a vessel; to put any implement or fitting into its appropriate holder.

http://www.dieselduck.ca/library/other/g...

Answer 15

A boat is smaller that holds just a few people: house boat, jet boat, canoe, etc.

A ship is a large vessel that holds many people: Navy ship, Cruise ship, transportation ship, etc.

Answer 16

Are you lazy?

http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_r...

Answer 17

A ship could eat a boat.