Crossword Genius

Fish hearts, but not hat, could be articles on boats (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rudders

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'not hat could be articles on boats' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'fish hearts' is the wordplay.
'fish' becomes 'rudd' (rudd is a kind of fish).
'hearts' becomes 'ers' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rudd'+'ers'='RUDDERS'

'but' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for rudders that I've seen is " Nautical steering mechanisms".)

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