keelboat

Barges twice: A long cigar shaped keelboat passing a "flatboat" on the Ohio River.

Keelboat has two distinct meanings, related to two different types of boats, one a riverine and cargo capable working boat, and the other in sailing and primarily a classification used in recreational sailing yachts.

Historically, a Keel boat^[1], Keelboat^[1], or Keel-boat^[2] is type of usually long narrow cigar-shaped river^[1] or sheltered water barge which is sometimes also called a poleboat — that is built about a slight keel and is designed as a boat built for the navigation of rivers, shallow lakes, and sometimes canals that were commonly used in America including use in great numbers by settlers making their way west in the century-plus of wide-open western American frontiers.^[1][2] They were also used extensively for transporting cargo to market, and for exploration and trading expeditions, for watercraft transport was the most effective means to move bulk or weight before the advent of the modern post-world war II transportation networks.

Keelboats are similar to a riverboat, but like other barges are unpowered and is typically controlled with oars or poles — usually the latter. Keelboats have been used for exploration, such as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but were primarily used to transport cargo or settlers in the early 19th century. The process of moving a keelboat upriver was extremely difficult, though current dependent. Most of these keelboats were 50 to 80 feet (15 to 24 m) long and 15 feet (5 m) wide. They usually had a cabin in the middle, but were sometimes constructed with an open deck. Mike Fink is probably the most noted keelboater in history.

The term keelboat is also used in the vernacular in some circles to describe any sailboat which has a keel, as opposed to a centerboard or daggerboard. The term is most often used by sailors of the latter type of boat.

Footnotes and references

• Website with Keelboat history and details
• The Keelboat Age on Western Waters, by Leland D Baldwin, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1941. (provides the authority for the previous linked website)

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Keelboat

• Riverboat
• Ferryboat

Sailing Classifications of sail keelboats

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