a
boat is a vehicle designed for the purpose of effecting passage or transportation
? across water. It is usually smaller than a ship, and can be thought of as able to be carried by a ship.
A boat consists of one or more primary structures called hulls and some system of propulsion.
see Sea Transport
In
Rowing boat refers to the collection of people rowing a particular
shell, which is the term applied to the actual vehicle. 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.