What's the top paint stripe on some boats called?

[Alan Mighty]

Here's a quote (which you can find on books.google.com if you wish) from:

Deborah Bennett, "Say it with Soul" (in the regular feature 'Step-by-Step Refit'), in Cruising World, April 1992, page 100:

"To visually reduce high topsides on any boat, you may want to raise the waterline with multiple boot stripes or add a sheer stripe. Similarly, a very wide sheer stripe (or wale) can be used just below the rail to similar effect. A wale typically is wider at the bow than the stern to complement the boat’s proportions of a high bow and low stern."

[StuM]

Hmm,
To me a wale is plank, not a painted embellishment.
See for example:
https://www.iims.org.uk/wp-content/u...ding-terms.pdf
Wale - An extra thick piece of skin planking. In a wooden vessel there may be a number of wales such as (starting from the keel):
-i.The garboard wale. (q.v.).(Rare and probably obsolete)
ii.The wrunghead wale. (q.v.). (Obsolete)
iii.The bilge wale. (q.v.).
iv.The main wale(s) (q.v.).
v.The gunwale (q.v.)
vi.The sheer wale. (q.v.)


and
Sheer Strake - The sheer strake is the uppermost skin plank on the side of the vessel just below the covering board. If thicker than the topside planking it is called a sheer wale. In a metal boat it is the topmost strake of plating at the vessel’s topside.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by BrightSEALAB

I prefer to call things by their proper names when I can and this one is stumping me.

Simply put, there is a stripe of paint on my boat that extends from the hull-deck joint down about 6-10 inches. It seems to follow the waterline stripes more than the line of the deck which rises quite a bit approaching the bow.

Below this line I have a recessed cove line.

"Painted Sheer-Strake" is the closest I can find that describes what I'm talking about, but it is a plastic boat without a proper strake really anywhere, sheer or not.

Is there a proper term for this line? I see some boats with and maybe as many without this feature.

As always, much thanks in advance,
Chris

Topsides Boot Stripe is what I call it.
Silly English Language.
Cheers,
SV Cloud Duster

[MartinAdelaide]

The boot stripe is just above the waterline. I have no idea of this top stripe although sheer stripe makes sense. My boat has one, about 2 inches wide but what abot the boats with more than one?

[Group9]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Same as pin striping on an automobile

Exactly. Makes it go faster!

[piloto]

Originally Posted by zengirl

What is the purpose of this stripe?

So you know which part of the boat to keep up.

[Garbonz]

What’s the pointy end of the boat called? Who cares, let’s go sailing.

[sailorladd]

I always called it a boot topping...

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by Captain John

I've always called it the "Boot Top" or "Boot Stripe"

Boot topping is the name of the stripe of paint along the waterline, usually made from an eroding type of paint, which prevents the build up of marine growth at the air/water interface, as distinct from antifouling paint below the surface. its is usually a much softer type of paint than antifoul so that it erodes readily. Boats that don't have it usually end up with a 'beard' of growth along the waterline, even if the antifoul extends above the waterline. It also gives a nicer appearance to boats as it is usually flared to be wider at the bow and to a lesser extent at the stern. I guess the line you are talking about would be called the trimline and it helps to break up the 'acres' of white look on most boats and makes them look sleaker. It can often incorporate the name of the boat type and or manufacturer. my boat, a Parker 27 has this in the stripe near the stern on both sides and also, as it is a lift-keeler has a stylised 'Liftkeel' logo incorporated amidships.

[Dave9111]

Well, obviously opinions vary.

I think I would describe the lowest stripe as the "lower stripe just above the bottom paint". And the upper stripe as "the stripe just below the rub rail".


Now if you have to describe a 3rd and 4th stripe that can be easily also described in reference to the rub rail and the bottom paint or water line.



Its best to be concise. And a lot of the terminology from long ago doesn't really apply any longer. For instance; Gunnel, came from Gun Wale and that is the board on which the guns were mounted. Although I would like to have guns mounted on my Gunnel, I think the Coasties might have an issue with that!

[ben2go]

Originally Posted by BrightSEALAB

I prefer to call things by their proper names when I can and this one is stumping me.

Simply put, there is a stripe of paint on my boat that extends from the hull-deck joint down about 6-10 inches. It seems to follow the waterline stripes more than the line of the deck which rises quite a bit approaching the bow.

Below this line I have a recessed cove line.

"Painted Sheer-Strake" is the closest I can find that describes what I'm talking about, but it is a plastic boat without a proper strake really anywhere, sheer or not.

Is there a proper term for this line? I see some boats with and maybe as many without this feature.

As always, much thanks in advance,
Chris

Racing stripe. Adds several knots to the top end and fills the sails in light air.

[Ike]

What is the purpose of this stripe?

Actually the purpose of the stripe just below the sheer line is to fool the eye. It's a trick designers use to make the boat look sleeker and less slab sided. Many years ago when I was taking a yacht design course, I learned to use this. As boats get smaller on the outside there is less room inside, particularly head room. To increase the head room the sides are made higher (this is most evident on lots of power boats with what used to be called Euro styling) But making the sides higher makes the boat look less sleek and attractive and even ugly. Putting a strip down the side fools the eye into seeing the side as lower than it is. Of course the width of the stripe depends on how big the boat is and how long it is.

The boot top or boot stripe on the other hand has several practical functions. One, it marks the designed waterline. A wide boot stripe painted black or other dark color hides all the gunk that collects on the side of the boat at the waterline. Also a wide boot stripe serves to show you how loaded your boat is. If the boot stripe is completely out of the water the boat is lightly load. If the water covers the boot stripe you are heavily loaded. Multiple stripes at the water line can serve the same purpose and can even tell you how much weight you need to remove to bring it back to the normal water line. A useful function in design of boats is the figure of immersion (in pounds/kgs or tons) per inch. That is, how much weight does it take to sink the boat one inch. If your boot strip is one inch wide and the water line is at the top of the boot and the immersion per inch is 1000 lbs you know that you have 1000 more pounds on board than if it were at the bottom of the stripe. If you have two stripes an inch wide and an inch apart, you have a good measure of additional weigh on board. Or, if you have a six inch boot stripe and it is covered, well you have 6 times that weight on board. all very useful information. It serves the same purpose as plimsole marks on ships.

As for what to call the stripe below the sheer? Dunno. I've always called it a sheer stripe because it is a false sheer line. As has been pointed out a cove stripe is a different thing altogether.

[KayZee]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

It is called the devil's line.


Remember 'between the devil and ...' ???


b.

According to Patrick O' Brian, the "devil" is the seam of the lowermost plank that butts into the rabbet in the keel. It's next to impossible to get at from inside the boat and a leak there is serious indeed hence the saying, "The devil (seam) to pay (fill) and no pitch (tar) hot." meaning to be in serious trouble with no obvious remedy. It has been bastardized by landlubbers into "Hell to pay" which makes no sense except to people that don't know what it means to pay a seam with tar and fiber. This use of devil still fits with "Between the devil and the deep blue sea."



If anyone cares and since I've seen it misspelled several times already: The line where the deck turns to vertical topsides is the shEEr. It comes from the word sheer which has among other meanings, to turn away sharply or to incline steeply. Shear with the *a* concerns itself solely with clipping and cutting.



pedantically yours,


Kurt

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Dave9111

For instance; Gunnel, came from Gun Wale and that is the board on which the guns were mounted. Although I would like to have guns mounted on my Gunnel, I think the Coasties might have an issue with that!

Nope, a wale is a vertical plank. The guns were mounted behind it, not on it.

[admiralslater]

For me the boot top stripe is just above the waterline