On Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:58:55 -0600, Jim Willemin
wrote:

What is the difference between a floor and a deck? Is the floor in the
cockpit or cabin and the deck 'outside'? I understand the 'floors' in
boatbuilding are transverse members in the frames, but does anyone know the
'proper' usages of floor and deck? Does a deckhouse have a floor or a
deck?

Might depend if you were in the Navy.
I never heard the word "floor" used there, even if ashore.
If you were ashore in a 2-story building, you might say 1st floor or
2nd floor. Don't know, as I was hardly ever ashore, but it would seem
pretty stupid to call the 1st floor the main deck.
But even in a building, the "floor" was the deck.
Shipboard, it was all decks.
Deckplates, main deck quarterdeck, mess decks, etc.
And "boat" was never used for Navy vessels, except whaleboats.
Civvy terminology might be different though

--Vic