Definition of Topsides

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BlueSkyNick

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I am sure this has been discussed in the past, but not for quite a while.

Trying to use the online CG66 system, with seperate problems which I wont bore you with, there are a number of questions about visual identification of the boat.

Two of them puzzled me:

Colour of Hull (Upper)
Colour of Topsides.

erm .... my understanding has always been that the topsides are are upper hull between the waterline and the gunwale. Above the gunwale is either deck or coach roof.

Am I wrong, or the CG66 form?
 
Had this a while back.
I think by top sides they mean, Top and sides of coachroof.
Hull upper, what we would normally call topsides, above waterline.
 
On the CG66, the 'Hull Colour (Upper)' is the colour of the hull above the waterline. This is distinct from 'Hull Colour (lower)' which is the colour below the waterline (ie. antifoul). I guess the coastguards may be looking for an upturned boat at somepoint....

If you put the mouse on the boxes, the help text on the top right explains this - at least on my browser....

Rick
 
When trying to update CG66 about two years ago I emailed MCA for precise definition of what they meant by topsides and hull (upper). Think I had an acknowledgement, but still waiting a reply.

I'll take Rickp's word for it though; I downloaded the PDF form last time. Perhaps that now has an explanation.
 
"Over there cox, it's a capsized boat", "oh no, we are looking for red antifoul, that is definitely blue, maintain course and speed helm" /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
When this cropped up some time ago I did some research into the meaning of the word topsides and came up with this;
1. Neither my ancient copy of the Admiralty Manual of Seamanship (1951) nor the Merchant Navy's standard work The Efficient Deckhand mention the word at all despite both having gone to considerable lengths to define parts of the vessel e.g. ship's side is that part above the waterline to the weather deck.
However Jeremy Howard-Williams' Sailing Dictionary of 1992 describes topsides the way we usually understand it to mean i.e. "that part of the side of a vessel that lies above the waterline when not heeled" with a rider that in the US it colloquially means "to go on deck"
What HM Coastguard mean has, as far as I can ascertain, never been defined which leads to all the confusion.
 
In a very early episode of 'Last Of The Summer Wine' the three heroes are sat by the river and an empty canoe floats past. A moment or two later a very wet man in canoeing gear walks past and says 'Have you seen a canoe?' to which one of the trio replied 'What colour were it?'
 
[ QUOTE ]
in the US it colloquially means "to go on deck"


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I have a letter from a young RN officer relative written aboard HMS Zealandia in 1914, full of then-current naval slang. One sentence concludes
"if I'm still topsides-up when this show is over".
 
The Mirriam-Webster definition of topsides agrees with the 'normal', so that's ok with the USA.

I have always thought of (tend not to use these nautical terms too much) the stuff ABOVE the topsides as being the superstructure - or more familiarly, the upper-scupper. Don't know where I got that idea /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

edited: topsides, deck, superstructure - working one's way up from the water. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Quoting from Wikipedia

[ QUOTE ]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
On an an offshore oil platform, Topsides refers to the surface hardware installed. This includes the oil production plant, the accommodation block and the drilling rig. They are often modular in design and so can be changed out if necessary allowing expensive platforms to be more readily updated with newer technology.

On a boat, it is the part of the hull between the waterline and the deck.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsides"


[/ QUOTE ]

Mal
 
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