Back decker
A back decker is a special form of construction in boat and shipbuilding .
boat
A back decker is a boat whose entire foredeck is covered by a cabin or cabin . This cabin is raised in relation to the side walls, is just as wide as the boat and closes at the front with the stem . Classic stern deckers usually have a straight stem, a slim hull shape and a flat, vertical transom stern .
ship
A fore decker is a ship , the fore of which is represented by design and construction (nautical, the " back ") the main deck by half or a whole deck .
history
shipbuilding
In shipbuilding , one began early on to build the forecastle higher than the rest of the hull in order to be able to ride heavy seas better. Already in classical antiquity there were ships with fore and aft ships with one more deck.
Sailboat building
When it comes to boat building, the fore decker goes far back in sailing boats . Even the work ( fishing ) boats were back deckers because back deckers have more space to work on deck than closed boats and are more seaworthy, i.e. safer, than completely open boats.
Motorboat construction
It quickly became apparent that a fore-decker with a closed cabin, converted into a saloon, offered the most comfort and space. The Engelbrecht cabin cruiser, first built in 1910, was such a back decker and also the first pleasure boat that went really flat (at 8 m length and 2 m width, 0.45 m draft , instead of the previously usual 1.2 m draft) and a lot on board There was space because the 3 ton steam engine with 8 HP had already been replaced by a 300 kg gasoline engine with 8 HP. As in this case, the back decker as a pleasure boat only gained general acceptance after the steam engine was replaced by internal combustion engines.
present
shipbuilding
Backdeckers are dying out in shipbuilding since ships have reached sizes in which foreships protruding above the main deck no longer seem to offer a nautical advantage.
Sailboat
There are also newer types of sailboat in GRP construction with a back deck for sailing in inland areas . These boats are generally keel swords . They have a relatively large cabin with a short hull length, but they lack the elegant "line" of modern cabin sailboats.
motorboat
In the second half of the 20th century, the back decks were replaced by cabin boats with other hull shapes in motorboat construction. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the back decker has been experiencing a renaissance, but now with a completely different hull shape than in the 20s of the 20th century. The modern forecastle decks often have a pronounced negative jump (including the forecastle deck), a sloping stem and a relatively wide hull. Thanks to their specially shaped underwater hull, they are designed to travel at high speeds.
Some of the backdecker designers
From 1910 to around 1940 the back decker was popular across all (seafaring) population groups, both among sailors and motorboat fans.
Among others, Claus Engelbrecht (died 1935) and the shipbuilding engineer Arthur Tiller (died 1957), who was employed at the Engelbrecht shipyard, designed and built back-deck sailing and motor boats from 1910 throughout their lives, almost on the assembly line.
In Scandinavia and the Netherlands, the Pettersson motor boats, which were manufactured in Sweden from the beginning of the 20th century, are still known and popular.
