Nautical nomenclature for stuff

[One Way David]

I an working on the wood shelving behind the seats, the seat support slatts and some sole support "beams" on my Pearson Ensign. Most boasts have the same architecture. What is the correct nomenclature for these items.
1. The area behind the seat to store stuff. Shelf?
2. The seat support slatts that run abeamship under the seat slats?
3. The support "beams" that run athwartship, that are tabbed into each starboard and port hull on which the sole lies?

Thanks for the knowlegable contestant that submits the answers. Dave.

[Hirilondë]

With fiberglass boats the nomenclature isn't rooted in tradition like for wooden boats. Some components take their name from the near equivalent on a wooden boat. Some components don't necessarily have a proper name. Some may have a name that has started to become accepted as "proper", as composite boats have evolved.

1. Shelf is as good a term as any. I know of no "proper" term. Although, wooden boats have a structural piece that joins the deck beams to the frames that is properly called the shelf.

2. If you mean across the hull, the term would be athwartship. as you used it in #3. Seats in an open boat are often called thwarts as they are also structural. Canoes have thwarts, they do not have seats, although with today's composites, they often are not structural any more and they are sat upon. I don't think there really is a "proper" term in this case as they simply support the seat and add no structure to the hull.

3. Here we have one that probably should take its name from the wooden boat equivalent. Sole beam would be appropriate. If the piece were to fit to the hull down into the bilge, and not just be a cross member, it would resemble the wooden boat's "floor" Sometimes floors support the sole, and sometimes beams do. It depends on how much room the boat has and whether the boat can afford space under the sole. Larger wooden boat raise the sole off the floors onto sole beams.

[One Way David]

Thanks Dave. I just like to learn stuff. I don't know why I used abeamship in #2, I knew better.

Dave.

[Oscar]

Never finish all your projects or you'll be bored.

Or as I say: "When they close the lid, you are done."