These artifacts are usually the most easily identifiable forms of traditional expression. In communities where builders design and construct watercraft according to informal rules and procedures handed down over the years, boats reflect builders' evolving solutions to such problems as depth of water, prevailing winds, climate, availability of construction materials, and intended uses. Due to gradual improvement over time, many boats, such as the Apalachicola Bay oyster skiff and the Maine lobster boat, are superbly suited to local contexts.
Fishing gear is another rich and significant aspect of maritime material culture.
Nets, traps, buoys, line trawls, spears, cane poles, hooks, lures, anchors, weights, sinkers, bait bags, and other types of equipment illustrate the methods fishermen have developed for capturing local marine species. As with boats, fishing gear often undergoes change over time in response to local conditions and materials. Shoreside buildings of all kinds, such as houses, boat shops, boat houses, net lofts, shucking houses, and fish camps, represent a third major category of maritime material culture. Such structures illustrate the adaptation of traditional design and construction techniques to a maritime environment. They also reveal local preferences about the arrangement of interior space, and the spatial requirements of traditional activities such as oyster shucking, net making, and boat building.