At what length does a boat become a yacht?

Can't help it....true story. My girlfriend and I were aboard a 110 footer at the Ft. Lauderdale show, and as we were walking off, I said "It's a beautiful boat." The Broker cleared his throat and said "It's a Yacht" Being the smartass that I am...I turned and replied "I'm sorry...is this a car? A ship? It floats, has two engines...it's a boat...and walked off. As far as I'm concerned there are two basic types of boats... a boat and a ship. Ships fall under the Cruise type, and the Destroyer, Aircraft Carrier, Oil Tankers, Container, etc. the rest are boats. I always get tickled about people being impressed by labels that really shouldn't exist. Ships are Commercial/ Military, and the rest are boats. I could be wrong...I've been wrong before. A 300 foot boat is still a boat. Period.

Have to agree
"Yacht" describes a role, not a size.

If we're going to argue about labels we could start with the American habit of calling motor boats "yachts" instead of restricting the term purely to sailing vessels

Yeah I'm pretty sure those terms are used pretty loosely these days. Maybe there is greater definition between a yacht and a super yacht but I don't know. I think the line between boat and yacht is largley in the eye of the beholder. I think back in the day there were more defined understandings of the term but not anymore!

When I worked on freighters ,naval ships and the cruise ships I always called them boats Only the cruise ship guys got pissed at the boat term saying it was a ship you dumb ass
As an owner of a boat / yacht
Its a boat when the ***** is a pain and a Yacht when she is a princess
Size is not the factor

To own a yacht requires a pencil-thin mustache, brilliantined hair parted in the center, independently controlled eyebrows and a hidden agenda. I fail on all counts. I own a wind-powered, floating RV.

This is a quote from Carl's post of Sept 2007. Have things changed in the last 8 years? Am working on a review and specifically looking for the qualifications to be classified as a "gigayacht."

Judy

Hi Judy,

I think MegaYacht is another word for SuperYacht, possibly more used in the US. And SuperYacht is the expression for big and exclusive private yachts in general. GigaYacht is more of a name for huge conceptual or fantasy yachts.

The size where a Yacht becomes a SuperYacht is around 100 feet as before, but a smaller yacht can be built with SuperYacht quality...

Ditto on AMG's post. As yachts grew to insane proportions over the past decade, new terms were adapted as descriptors. I think the industry has established the super yacht nomenclature starts around 150'.

We just have boats. No yachts.

It sounds like "gigayacht" doesn't pull up many fans here. Maybe everyone has read what Wikipedia has to say:

giga G 10003 109 1000000000 billion thousand million or milliard 1960
mega M 10002 106 1000000 million 1960 (1873)

Or put differently, giga is 10 to the 9th and mega is 10 to the 6. (as in 10 squared would be 10 to the 2nd)

I hate to sound corny, but gigayacht just sounds so cool, I might have to use it anyway. How far we have come when terms like superyacht and megayacht sound ordinary if not boring. Be on the lookout for the gigayacht review unless my favorite mod reads post #88.

When the first book in the classic Superyacht series was published in 1988, Roger Lean-Vercoe wrote the following in his introduction;



This is still what we consider a Superyacht. When it comes to Gigayachts, I think it is an expression that wannabe designers have been feeding the tabloids with, just to get attention to their renderings of huge fantasy yachts. In media, I think some have been using it for yachts above 100 meter, possibly from the time Lady Moura was launched, but I can not remember seeing it used in serious marketing of big Superyachts. Should you talk about GigaYachts today, I suggest it should be future yachts above 200 meters...

Judy,

Keep in mind, we don't just write for humans, we write for bots too. Destiny isn't giga.

Last day at the NBAA. Here's the biggest boat in Vegas...

IMO, the distinction is that a yacht has full-time professional captain and crew. Boats do not. Part-time captain or full-time deck hand doesn't make it a yacht.

What a clever way to extol your humility and brag about your boat in only six words. Bravo!

After reading many posts on this forum, three things I now know that you must have to own a yacht (Boat)
1. Money - fairly large gobs of disposable cash
2 Guts - takes some guts to take a 1,000,000.00 boat out onto the wild ocean.
3 Snarkieness - all post have someone snarking at someone else

Sorry, Zud, I have to disagree with all 3, but mostly your third comment. In just reading the posts that show up on on this page, I don't see anyone sniping or criticizing. I asked a question that revived an old thread, and while I didn't find the "information" I was looking for, I got valid responses. I don't want to hijack this thread, but I think you're flat out wrong to say "all posts have someone snarking at someone else." You must be confusing your forums - please don't bring negativity or inaccurate generalizations to this one. If I'm being snarky, sorry, but I didn't want passivity to imply agreement. I could defend the other two as well, but this is a thread on yacht nomenclature.

Judy

Judy, cmon, you're not being snarkey!! You are right not all posts deteriorate in quibbling but a few do. I have read many threads where someone questions someone elses opinion and then it goes down hill from there . My thread about propulsion engines turned into a snit fit about who operated the largest gensets and some turn into who can wrench better than the other guy. I love the forum and just cast aside the askew comments. As to numbers #1 and #2 you have to agree that to the "common" person, prices as well as yearly costs may be out of range as are most "luxuries". Spent a few days this week watching fishermen go through the inlet at Indian River DE during some weather (not even a real storm) that took guts in my opinion. 30 foot boats getting tossed like they were toys in water crashing up onto the parking lot. Sorry if I offended you. Just my opinion.

P.S. kinda agree with MY Traveler that a "yacht" should be crewed... until I get mine (no crew) then anything can be a Yacht JK!!!

Ok, thanks for the olive branch. Again, sorry to interject this response on an unrelated thread, but briefly, I don't think it takes gobs of disposable cash. There's a lot of boats that can give a kid or family or a couple a real fun weekend on the water. A quick scan on boats between 20 feet and 30, 5 years old or newer in the US, between $10,000 and $30,000 and more than 2600 pulled up. Secondly, I don't think it takes guts to take a $1m boat on the wild ocean, I think it takes knowledge, maturity, and preparation and all of that would preclude "wild ocean."

Having corresponded with OldenBoater, I realize that he intended neither and therefore retract my comment and apologize to him for my inference.

Thank you.