Traditional raft, from 1884 edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (often shortened to Huck Finn) is a novel written by American Humorist Mark Twain.

Children successfully test their raft, in Brixham harbour, south Devon, England. The raft is made from wooden poles, rope and blue barrels.

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. A boat is a Watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water and provide transport over it A hull is the body of a Ship or Boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the Buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking Instead, rafts are kept afloat using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels, or inflated air chambers. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs Traditional or primitive rafts are constructed of wood or reeds. Phragmites australis, the common reed, is a large perennial grass found in Wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the Modern rafts may also use pontoons, drums, or extruded polystyrene blocks. A pontoon is a flat-bottomed Boat or the floats used to support a structure on water A drum is a cylindrical container used for shipping bulk goods Polystyrene ˌpɒliˈstaɪriːn ( IUPAC Polyphenylethene is an aromatic Polymer made from the aromatic Monomer Styrene Inflatable rafts use durable, multi-layered rubberized fabrics. Depending on its use and size, it may have a superstructure, masts, or rudders. A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline

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. Timber rafting is a log transportation method in which logs are tied together into Rafts and drifted or pulled across a water body or down a flatter river Logging is the process in which Trees are cut down for Forest management and Timber. 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. Rafting or whitewater rafting is a challenging recreational activity utilizing a Raft to navigate a River or other bodies of water An inflatable boat is a lightweight boat constructed with its sides and bow made of flexible tubes containing pressurised gas Whitewater is formed in a Rapid, when a River 's gradient drops enough to disturb its Laminar flow and create Turbulence, i

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