Boating is the activity of traveling by boat. In particular, it refers to the recreational use of boats, typically focused on the traveling itself, as opposed to activities just using the boat, such as fishing, waterskiing or sailing.

A boat is a watercraft or vessel, usually smaller than most ships. Some boats are commonly carried by a ship or on land using trailers - indeed, one of the definitions of a boat is a watercraft that can be carried by a ship.

A boat consists of one or more buoyancy structures called hulls and some system of propulsion, such as a screw, oars, paddles, a setting pole, a sail, paddlewheels or a water jet.

Their are many types of boats, the most popular being speed, pontoon, and jet ski.

Boats can be classified by the material used to build them. Up till the mid 19th century all boats were wooden and some boats are still made of wood. With the industrial revolution, steel was relatively inexpensive and there were no forests left in Britain to supply the keels of larger wooden boats and the age of the steel ship started. Small boats were still made of wood as it was easier to work with.

Power can be applied to move boats through the water be several means.

Often in rowing as a racing-type competitive sport, “boat” means the crew and “shell” means the craft. So a university might refer to its first boat, meaning the rowers who make up their best team, rather than their best piece of equipment.

One of the main advantages of fiberglass boats was that if properly built, they were extremely strong, did not rust, corrode or rot, were relatively easy to maintain and for recreational boats quite practical.