Sternpost

{{Short description|Vertical structure at the aft of a boat}}

right|270px|thumb|Side elevation of a sailing ship with the sternpost highlighted A '''sternpost''' is the upright structural member or post at the aft end of a ship or a boat,<ref name="oxford"/><ref name="hovgaard"/> to which are attached the transoms and the rearmost part of the stern.<ref name="ansted"/>

The sternpost may either be completely vertical or may be tilted or "raked" slightly aft.<ref name="marett"/> It rests on or "fays to" the ship's keel.<ref name="oxford"/>

Traditionally, the rudder was suspended from the sternpost, and the propellers descended from it.<ref name="oxford"/><ref name="hovgaard"/> With changes in how these are positioned, in modern shipbuilding vessels are often not considered to have a sternpost.<ref name="oxford"/>

==See also== {{Wiktionary|sternpost}} * Boat building * Shipbuilding

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="oxford">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=sternpost |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2006 |editor-last1=Kemp |editor-first1=Dear |editor-last2=Kemp |editor-first2=Peter |edition=2 |isbn=9780199205684}}</ref> <ref name="hovgaard">{{cite book |last1=Hovgaard |first1=William |title=Structural Design of Warships |date=1915 |publisher=E. & F. N. Spon, Limited |language=en}}</ref> <ref name="ansted">{{cite book |last1=Ansted |first1=A |title=A Dictionary of Sea Terms |language=en |date=1919}}</ref> <ref name="marett">{{cite book |last1=Marett |first1=P. R. |title=Yachts and yacht building |publisher=E. & F. N. Spon |language=en |date=1872}}</ref> }}

{{Sailing ship elements}}

Category:Watercraft components

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