Glossary of Terms

Beam: refers to the width of the canoe at its widest point

Boom: The horizontal spar to which the foot of the sail is attached.  The boom is used to maintain the sail shape.  The boom is attached to the mast close to the base of the mast and pivots about the mast depending on the point of sail.

Bow: the front end of the canoe. You can easily spot the bow by looking at the seating arrangement. The front seat is located further from the end of the canoe to provide legroom for the bow paddler

Bulkhead: a partition that divides a ship or plane into compartments.

Carrying Yoke: When desired, the centre thwart can be replaced by a carrying yoke which is shaped to fit onto the shoulders of a person carrying the canoe overhead. It provides greater comfort because of its shape.

Chine: The line of intersection between the side and bottom of a flat bottom or V-bottom boat.

Deck Plates: triangle shaped pieces of wood that are fastened between the gunnels at either end of the canoe. They provide a convenient handhold for carrying and a place to attach a painter line

Deck Rings: These are brass rings attached to the decks of a canoe for the purpose of attaching a rope. Not all canoes have deck rings.

Deck Thwarts or Handles: These are small thwarts located just behind the decks of the canoe. They are used, by two people, to carry the canoe in an upright position and are the preferred place to tie ropes when car-topping the canoe. Not all canoes have deck thwarts.

Decks: These are the triangular pieces of wood that hold the inwales together at either end of the canoe.

Downhaul: Used to tie down the mainsail; attached to the tack corner and the base of the mast.

Foot: The lower edge of a sail.

Forestay: For a mast standing alone to have adequate strength, it would need to be heavy.  Much better to have a light mast with supports.  Some bigger dinghies have wire ropes (usually) from the top of the mast to the bow.  This is a forestay.

Gunwales (pronounced ‘gunnels’): These are the wooden pieces that run full length along the top of each side of the canoe. There are ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ gunwales which are screwed together with the ends of the ribs in between.

Half Ribs: If desired, the floor of the canoe can be strengthened by the placement of ‘half ribs’ between the full ribs. These are only half as wide as the full ribs and are only long enough to span the floor area of the canoe.

Halyard: The rope used to raise the mainsail; attached to the head corner and runs down the mast.

Hull: the body of the canoe which displaces water and provides the canoes buoyancy

Keel: The principal structural member of a canoe that runs lengthwise down the middle of the hull from bow to stern. Not all canoes have a keel.

Keelson: This is a keel- like strip that runs the full length of the canoe on the inside.

Kicker: A tensile member attached at one end to the base of the mast and at the other end to the boom, usually about a quarter way along the boom's length.  The kicker keeps the boom from rising and so maintains sail shape.

Kneeling Thwart: replaces the normal thwart (about 6 inches aft) and is fitted on an angle to better enable kneeled solo paddling as it takes weight / stress off both the paddler's knees and ankles while still providing canoe structure & rigidity

Leeboard: One of a pair of movable boards or plates attached to the hull of a sailing vessel to reduce downwind drift.

Leech: A. Either vertical edge of a square sail. B. The after edge of a fore-and-aft sail.

Luff: A. The act of sailing closer into the wind. B.The forward side of a fore-and-aft sail. Archaic. The fullest part of the bow of a ship.

Mainsheet: A rope from the end of the boom.  The mainsheet is used to control the sail position.

Mast: A tall vertical spar, sometimes sectioned, that rises from the keel or deck of a sailing vessel to support the sails and the standing and running rigging.  

Outhaul: The outhaul holds the clew corner of the mainsail at a set distance along the boom.

Port Side: is the left side of the canoe, looking from the stern towards the bow

Portage: The carrying of boats and supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation. A track or route used for such carrying.

Ribs: are shallow "U" shaped pieces that push outwards on the inside of the canoes hull to add strength & and rigidity in some canoes. Note: some fibreglass and Kevlar canoes do NOT have ribs as the manufacturers have chosen to add a core material to the hull instead

Rub rail: Fiberglass boat gunwales are surrounded by metal and aluminum protection variously called a "bang rail" or a "rub rail." Its obvious purpose is to absorb the impact of close encounters with dock pilings. A less obvious purpose is to cover the joint between the hull and deck. "Bang rail" is a good name because season after season it takes a lot of banging with each less-than-perfect docking recorded as a cut, scrape, dent or scratch. It's as if the boat doesn't want to forget your mistakes at the helm.

Rudder: A vertically hinged plate of metal, fiberglass, or wood mounted at the stern of a ship or boat for directing its course.

Sail (Parts of): Most sails are triangular.  The leading edge of the sail is called the Luff.  The base edge (along the boom) is the Foot.  The trailing edge is the Leech.  The corner at the top (between the luff and the leech) is called the Head Corner.  The lower leading corner (between the luff and the foot) is the Tack Corner.  The lower trailing corner (between the leech and the foot) is the Clew Corner.

Scarf - A joint made by cutting or notching the ends of two pieces correspondingly and strapping or bolting them together. Also called scarf joint. Either of the correspondingly cut or notched ends that fit together to form such a joint.
(scarf·ing to join by means of a scarf. To cut a scarf in.)

Seat Bolts: These are long brass or bronze bolts that are used to attach the seats to the inwales.

Seats: Most canoes have a bow seat and a stern seat that paddlers sit on while paddling. Smaller canoes, which are intended to be paddled solo, have only one seat located near the centre. Some canoes have no seats and must be paddled from a kneeling position.

Snotter: the short line supporting the heel of the sprit in a small boat.

Starboard Side: is the right side of the canoe, looking from the stern towards to bow

Station: post or base

Stern: the back end of the canoe where most of the steering is done

Thwart: This is the wooden member that spans the open side of the canoe, from gunwale to gunwale, usually at the centre of the canoe. All canoes have at least one thwart and many have two, the second located between the centre thwart and the stern seat. On occasion, a canoe will have a third thwart just behind the bow seat. The thwarts maintain the shape of the canoe and provide structural support for the gunwales.

Yoke: is a centre thwart which is contoured to comfortably fit your shoulders to best support the canoe’s weight when solo portaging (carrying)

Remember, the most critical part of a canoe is the big hole at the top that lets in all the water. You want to keep that part high and dry!