We're certain that all of us have heard these lines many-a-times in classic movies or the recently animated ones like Sinbad and many more.
Often mistaken for some other part of a ship or boat, a Deck is simply a permanent covering over a compartment of a ship. In something as small as a sailboat, it is the cover of the hull, which for the ordinary man would be wrongly termed as the 'body' of the sailboat.
Decks are both a structural and a functional form. It is the 'roof' for the hull which strengthens it and at the same time serves as the primary working surface.
DIFFERENT DECKS
The gargantuan cruise liners nowadays are more like skyscrapers on the sea and decks are the floors. These decks at times provide a specialised purpose - accomodation, entertainment, look-out, swimming pool and recreation and many more.
Materials such as wood, metal as well as modern day lightweight fibreglass are used. Due to safer technologies and good construction techniques employed, there are decks under the water level on some of the modern boats.
There are different kinds of decks depending on their placement and purpose. Some of these are Berth, Boiler, Flush, Main, Side, Upper and Lower Decks. Some fishing trawlers have a fishing deck.
SCANTLINGS
An important concept that is essential in the design of decks is the scantling. The critical dimensions of any element of the ship; so for the skin and deck of the hull it would be the thickness (of the planks, fibreglass layup, hull plating, etc.)
The thickness of the decking affects how strong the hull is, and is directly related to how thick the skin of the hull itself is, which is of course related to how large the vessel is, the kind of work it is expected to do, and the kind of weather it may reasonably be expected to endure.
DECK PLAN
Customers always like to 'touch' and feel what they are going to be in-for before they go ahead with dishing out huge sums of money for their cruise, and Deck Plans are the best illustrative method of giving them an idea of what to expect.
Deck Plans along with images about the finesse of the interiors of cruise ships allow prospective cruise-ers to visualise a ship that they mite chose to be on. As shown below, Deck Plans have a detailed layout of all the various decks of a ship and are detailed in a proper manner.
Next time you are aboard a floating vessel, you will have a better idea what ALL HANDS ON DECK means...
