rafts n : a large number or amount; "made lots of new friends"; "she amassed a mountain of newspapers" [syn: tons, dozens, heaps, lots, mountain, piles, scores, stacks, loads, slews, wads, oodles, gobs, scads, lashings]

English

Noun

rafts

1. Plural of raft

Verb

rafts

1. third-person singular of raft

A raft is any flat floating structure for travel over water. It is the most basic of boat design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Instead, rafts are kept afloat using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels, or inflated air chambers. Traditional or primitive rafts are constructed of wood or reeds. Modern rafts may also use pontoons, drums, or extruded polystyrene blocks. Inflatable rafts use durable, multi-layered rubberized fabrics. Depending on its use and size, it may have a superstructure, masts, or rudders.

Timber rafting is used by the logging industry for the transportation of logs, by tying them together into rafts, and drifting or pulling them down a river. This method was very common up until the middle of the 20th century but is now used only rarely.

The type of raft used for recreational rafting is almost exclusively an inflatable boat, manufactured of flexible materials for use on whitewater.

See also

• Lifeboat
• Raft of the Medusa
• Thor Heyerdahl
• Raft by Stephen Baxter

External links

• World of Boats at Eyemouth ~ Australian Reed Raft
• Homemade Raft Plans and Photos of Rafts
• Neutrino Raft - vessels made from scrap