What's a yacht?

Will Gilmore

Will Gilmore

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Oct 19, 2017
7,746
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
I've found several official sailboat company references to their boats as yachts.
It seems to me, it's a boat until you are trying to sell it.

HINCKLEY YACHTS ©

Off the Marlow Hunter Web site: "The Hunter 36 is a stunning cruiser. The updated window line gives this yacht a sleek feel"
https://www.marlow-hunter.com/mid-size-keelboats-31-37-fleet/the-36-one-boat-two-personalities/



"Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it." David Lee Roth

A very nervous first time crew member says to the skipper, "Do yachts like this sink very often?"
"Not too often," replied the skipper. "Usually it's only the once."

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Scott T-Bird

Scott T-Bird

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Oct 26, 2008
6,083
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
A few weeks ago I was on one of my job sites along the Hudson River on the Jersey side just downstream from the G.W. Bridge when I had a peek at a yacht running downstream with a helicopter perched near the stern. It got me thinking … why would you need to bother with a dink when you've got a chopper?
 
AlastairLC

AlastairLC

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Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
I once knew a guy who flew a chopper from the yacht owned by a billionaire who renounced his US citizenship (for tax purposes), parked his yacht 3 miles off the Florida Coast, and wanted his daughter to attend school ashore, and his wife to shop.
Now that’s a yacht!
(Even if it was owned by some pond scum.)
 
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Peggie Hall HeadMistress

Peggie Hall HeadMistress

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Dec 2, 1997
8,729
- - LIttle Rock
dakno said:
Your insurance co! When I called GEICO boat insurance and they asked what size is your boat? They then had to transfer me to the "yacht brokerage", I knew then that this was going to be expensive.
Click to expand
Not really...when you consider that a "yacht" policy covers a lot that "boat insurance" doesn't 'cuz a "yacht" has a lot more stuff on it than an open boat. Just be careful that it doesn't depreciate any of that stuff. A friend whose boat sank in its slip (only went down 4 feet) found out the hard way that his insurance considered everything on his 6 yr old boat to be fully depreciated after 5 years...it paid for NOTHING but raising the boat and drying out the engines and generator, not even ruined wall coverings and carpet. So read ALL the fine print!
--Peggie
 
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Simon Sexton

Simon Sexton

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Nov 1, 2017
635
Catalina 25 Sea Star Base Galveston, TX
A "ship" is a vessel that is over 50 feet in length, or carries another vessel onboard (within reason). A "dinghy" is a vessel that is under 20 feet and is not built or designed with a laden, weighted keel. A "yacht" completely differs from these sort of qualifications. The requirements for a vessel to be considered a "yacht" are:
- a large cabin and lots of cabin space
- lots of amenities
- some luxuries (more than the basics)
- performance (better than average)
- cost (typically priced higher than the average comparable vessels)

This being said, a "dinghy" would not be likely to qualify as a yacht, whereas a "ship" or even a very nicely built "boat" very well could. It all depends on the quality and luxury. I've also noticed that Catalina is called Catalina Yachts. This is most likely because their boats have not only been mass-produced, but are built to offer a fair balance of luxury and performance.
I hope this helps!
 
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jssailem

jssailem

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Oct 22, 2014
21,104
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
@Simon Sexton it is also possible that a couple of marketing guys drinking a beer were kicking around the naming of their boat company and since they were in southern californina the first name “Catalina” was a natural... Everyone wants to go to Catalina. Songs are sung about Catalina. It captured the idea of recreation, but alone that was not enough. It would not take them long, or too much beer, to go through the other names to use for their fledging company...
“Yachts” was likely chosen before the first beer bottle was empty... It encourages one to think of their boat as valuable, ego driving, prestigious.
 
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Peggie Hall HeadMistress

Peggie Hall HeadMistress

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Dec 2, 1997
8,729
- - LIttle Rock
Simon, you need to do a wee bit more research:

The internationally accepted definition of YACHT:
A yacht /jɒt/ is a watercraft used for pleasure or sports.[1] The term originates from the Dutch word jacht "hunt", and was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries. The jacht was popularized by Charles II of England as a pleasure or recreation vessel following his restoration in 1660.
Today's yachts differ from other vessels by their leisure purpose. A yacht is any sail or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising or racing. A yacht does not have to have luxury accommodations to be a yacht, in fact many racing yachts are stripped out vessels with the minimum of accommodations.
(Under this definition from Black's Law a yacht, dinghy technically qualifies as a yacht.)

Difference between a ship and a boat
According the U.S. Naval Institute, a boat, generally speaking, is small enough to be carried aboard a larger vessel, and a vessel large enough to carry a smaller one is a ship. Or, as Steve says his Navy Lieutenant father put it to him, “You can put a boat on a ship, but you can’t put a ship on a boat.”

Now for a bit of fun: I'll send a signed copy of my book to the first person who can give us the CORRECT original term for the "public or entertaining area or dining cabin on a ship."
--Peggie
 
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Roland5048

Roland5048

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May 12, 2004
1,505
Hunter Cherubini 30 New Port Richey
I already have a signed copy but, I am going to go with "saloon". You can send me a yacht, instead. :)
 
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Peggie Hall HeadMistress

Peggie Hall HeadMistress

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Dec 2, 1997
8,729
- - LIttle Rock
You're correct, Roland (sorry, John...not even close!). If you can provide me with a shipping address, I'll get that yacht headed your way.

As late as 1983, "any large room or hall designed for receptions, exhibitions, entertainment etc, specifically the main social cabin of a passenger ship" was the first definition of "saloon" in Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary. Definition #2: "any large public room used for some specific purpose, as in a 'dining saloon.' " You had to get all the way to the third definition to find any reference to "a place where alcoholic drinks are sold." And until the late '80s/early '90s, "saloon" was the term recreational boat builders and owners used when referring to a separate sitting/dining area. It was about that time that a combination of emerging political correctness, along with disdain for anything traditional and a marine industry who feared--with good reason!--that the boat buying public wasn't smart enough to know that "saloon" could refer to anything but a wild west barroom that we began seeing "salon" in print ads and brochures. The older generation of boat owners protested mightily but to no avail. A century old tradition sinks beneath the waves....
--Peggie
 
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jssailem

jssailem

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Oct 22, 2014
21,104
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Well I guess I was confused by the context...
Peggie Hall HeadMistress said:
According the U.S. Naval Institute, a boat, generally speaking, is small enough to be carried aboard a larger vessel, and a vessel large enough to carry a smaller one is a ship. Or, as Steve says his Navy Lieutenant father put it to him, “You can put a boat on a ship, but you can’t put a ship on a boat.”

Now for a bit of fun: I'll send a signed copy of my book to the first person who can give us the CORRECT original term for the "public or entertaining area or dining cabin on a ship."
Click to expand
All of these Navy references, the nearness of Veterans Day... had me focused on Naval vessels. There we call it the Mess.

Things happen.
 
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