Chapter XV (2)

The holes and the steps for the masts should be arranged before the canvas is put on, fitting extra thwarts across if needed, and it is a good plan to fit tubes for the masts. In case of sailing, the steering can be done with the paddle, or a rudder can be used (in which case a straight stern-post should be put in, for which a knee is good) and lines be led forward to the well-hole from a yoke at the top of the rudder. Many arrangements have been devised for steering sailing-canoes, but these details, as well as those for the rigging, can be found in any good book on the subject. If you are a novice, begin with a simple leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448).

* * * * *

It is better to buy oars than to try to make them. You may, however, have occasion to make a paddle. A good shape is shown in Fig. 442, but you can choose from a variety of forms.

* * * * *

The length can readily be determined from some paddle which suits you or you can experiment with a strip of wood. Five inches is a good width, and 5' to 5-1/2' a good length, but these are matters of individual preference. Spruce is a good wood for your first attempt at paddle-making. It makes a good paddle and is easier to work than birch, beech, or maple, or any of the harder woods. Pine can be used. Use a centre line in making your pattern. After the pattern is marked on the wood have the outline sawed at a mill or do it yourself with the turning-saw, or make a series of saw-kerfs to the line with the hand-saw and remove the superfluous wood with the draw-knife, spoke-shave, or chisel (see _Paring_). Having the outline correct, mark a line along the middle of the edge of the blade, and gradually and carefully shave the surfaces down towards this middle line, also tapering the thickness towards the ends. The draw-knife, spoke-shave, plane, rasp, file, scraper, and sandpaper can be used (see all of these tools in Part V. and also _Paring_ and _Rounding Sticks_). Great care is needed to trim a paddle nicely to shape. A little hasty cutting may ruin the work.

The double-bladed paddle can be made of a single piece, or two pieces can be joined by a ferrule (Fig. 443). The double-bladed paddle can be from about 7' to 8' or 9' long and the blades are made broader and shorter than that of the single paddle. A couple of round rubber rings on each end of the handle will stop some of the dripping of water from the blades as they are raised.

=Small Sail-boat.=--The boat shown in Fig. 444 is a good form for the amateur to attempt, and makes a serviceable craft for sheltered waters. From twelve to sixteen feet is a good length, and the beam should be wide, as shown. The depth can be from twelve to sixteen inches.

* * * * *

Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_, _Plane_, _Nailing_, in Part V., and look up any other references.

Care should be taken to select clear, straight-grained stock, free from knots, checks, and other defects, and thoroughly dry. Pine is excellent.

The general principle of construction does not differ from that of the flat-bottomed boats already described, and detailed directions are therefore omitted. The sides should each be of one 3/4" or 7/8" board. The arrangement of the details is obvious. Knees can be used to good advantage. The deck should be of wood, the boards (1/2") resting on cross-beams or carlins, reaching from gunwale to gunwale (as already shown) and slightly arched. Around the well-hole, brackets can be used (Fig. 445). The deck can be covered with canvas.

This boat, as shown in the illustration, is planked across the bottom like the other flat-bottomed boats already described, but the bottom boards can run lengthways instead, if preferred. In this case knees should be inserted, or cross-frames of some kind, to reach across the bottom and to which the bottom boards can be nailed. The bottom boards should be not less than 3/4" thick and the edges must be carefully jointed (see _Jointing_). They can be laid slightly apart and the seams caulked (see page 302). Strips of flannel laid in thick white-lead paint can be placed between the edges of the sides and stern and the bottom boards, or the edges can simply be painted.

The construction of the case or trunk for the centre-board can be understood from Figs. 446 and 447. By either method of construction the trunk consists of two upright posts, or "headledges," cut with shoulders at the lower end, and sides of board screwed to these posts. A slot is sawed through the bottom of the boat of sufficient width and length to give the centre-board free passage--that is, of the dimensions of the opening at the bottom of the trunk. To cut this slot several holes can be bored close together until an opening is made sufficiently large to start the saw. By the arrangement shown in Fig. 446, a plank is taken and a slot is cut in it enough longer than that in the bottom of the boat to include the lower ends of the headledges, which should fit snugly. The sides of the trunk are screwed to this plank from underneath, and the plank is in turn screwed to the bottom of the boat. The headledges can be additionally fastened from the edge of the plank, horizontally. Unless the bottom of the boat is straight, the plank must be accurately fitted to the curve on the under side,--not an easy task (see _Scribing_ and _Paring_). All the joints should be laid in thick white-lead paint, and at the bottom flannel can be laid in the seam, with lead, or caulking can be resorted to.

By the method shown in Fig. 447, the headledges and sides are fitted to a board on the bottom, or to the keelson, and, after being put in place, strips of plank are fitted lengthways on each side at the bottom and bolted or screwed to the bottom and to the sides of the trunk. The lower edges of these strips must be fitted to the curve of the bottom and the whole made tight, as just shown. Much care must be taken with this work to make tight joints. The inside of the trunk should be painted before putting together, and holes be bored carefully for all the screws (see _Boring_ and _Screws_).

The centre-board itself can be of wood or of galvanized plate iron and is pivoted at the forward lower corner, and can be raised and lowered by a rod attached to the after corner.

Remember to paint the inside of the boat carefully with at least two coats before putting on the deck, and also that copper nails and brass fittings are better than those of galvanized iron (particularly for salt water) if you can afford them.

The coaming or wash board can be of 1/2" oak, ash, or elm. The deck can first be laid, lapping slightly over the space to be left open. The line for the coaming can then be marked on the deck, and the projecting wood sawed or trimmed to the line, when the coaming can be bent into place and fastened.

The gunwale-strip, like the stern-post, the rudder, and the tiller, should be of hard wood, as oak. Hackmatack is good for the stem.

The mast should be of spruce. A strong thwart, with a hole in it, can be fitted across between the sides, just under the deck, and a block with another hole fastened to the bottom. The place at which to step the mast must depend upon the style of rig you adopt.

One who is used to sailing a boat will not seek for information on this subject in a manual on wood-working, but for the novice it may be well to state that a leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448) is undoubtedly the simplest, easiest, and safest rig for the beginner, and it will be wise to learn to manage this rig first. The spritsail (Fig. 449), with or without the boom, is an easily managed sail, which works well with this boat. Either of these rigs can be unshipped in a moment, the mast, sail and all being lifted out when desired. For other styles of rigging you should consult someone used to sailing or some book on the subject.

For the painting, see _Painting_, in Part V.

=Small Ice-Boat.=--The main framework of even the most elaborate ice-boat consists merely of a lengthways centre timber or "backbone" and a cross-piece or "runner-board" (Fig. 450), the whole resting on three runners, one of which acts as a rudder.

Before beginning work read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_, _Plane_, in Part V., and look up any other references.

A small boat can be made as shown in Fig. 451. The dimensions can easily be altered. The particular rig given is merely for illustration, for this is not a book on sailing, and you can find all the facts you need about rigging in any good book on the subject. If you are a novice you had best be content with a simple leg-of-mutton sail (Fig. 448), which is, for the beginner, the safest and most easily managed. A spritsail (Fig. 449) or some other simple form can be used if desired. If you know how to sail a boat, you can adopt such rig as you think best.

First get out the backbone. Get a piece of clear spruce, or pine, perhaps 12' × 3" × 4". A round spar may be used. Be careful to select good lumber, as great strain is put upon it. A piece which has naturally sprung lengthways should be placed with the convex edge upwards. Next get out the runner-board, perhaps 6-1/2' × 2" × 9", of spruce. Pine is also good, or any strong wood will do. Choose a clear, sound plank. If naturally sprung in a bow-like curve, put the convex side upwards. Smooth the pieces sufficiently to avoid splinters and roughness. Thin the runner-plank on top each way from the centre down to about an inch in thickness at each end, if you can have it sawed at the mill. It is hardly worth while to do this by hand. Fasten the runner-board, at exactly the middle of its length, across the backbone, at a point perhaps 6-1/2' from the stern end, with a strap-hanger (Fig. 452) screwed up with nuts and broad washers on the under side. If you cannot afford this, put a bolt through both pieces (see _Boring_), tightening underneath with nut and washer, and putting cleats on the runner-board (Fig. 453). Be sure that one edge of the runner-board is straight and at right angles to the backbone. Nail a piece of board, 18" long and 3" wide, across the stern end of the centre timber. Add the two side pieces _a b_ and _c d_ (Fig. 450), of 2" spruce joist, nailing them firmly in place, thus forming the sides of an irregular box (see _Nailing_). Turn the frame over and nail a bottom on this box, laying the boards crosswise and nailing to the backbone as well as to the sides and end.

Next, to make the runners, get out six pieces of oak, or other hard, strong wood, 9" × 3" × 4". Mark with the square from the straightened edge of the runner-board the positions for the inner blocks, equally distant from the backbone, screwing them in place (Fig. 454), with one screw in each. Measure across with a stick from one to the other at each end to see that they are just parallel, and also test their being at right angles to the runner-plank, which in turn must be at right angles to the backbone, in order that the runners may be parallel and not slewed sideways. Having tightly screwed these inner blocks, brace them with angle blocks, as shown. The outer blocks can next be fitted, leaving just space enough for the runners to play freely, but not loosely, between the blocks. The holes for the pins for the runners can be bored in the outer pieces before they are screwed on. Then, using these holes as a guide, those in the inner blocks can be bored in line. The runners themselves should be carefully made and fitted, for they are a very vital part of the boat. On the large boats they have usually been made of oak, with a shoe of cast iron at the bottom attached by bolts, but this is quite a piece of work for a small boat and you can get the blacksmith to work out the whole runner, with a hole bored for the pin-bolt. Make a pattern about 18" or 20" long, rocking _very_ slightly in the middle and more quickly near the ends. The hole for the pin should be back of the middle, so that more of the shoe will be in front of than behind the pin. This is to lessen the shock when the runner strikes an obstruction. The cutting edge may have an angle of about 45° for trial (Fig. 455). If too blunt or too sharp you can alter it. It will take considerable filing to get the edge true, straight, and uniform (see _Filing_). Finish with an oil-stone.

The rudder-runner can be a little shorter. Screw a piece of 2" oak plank on top of the rudder-blocks and on top of this fasten a plate or socket to which is attached a piece of gas-pipe about a foot long, for a rudder-post. At the top of the rudder-post screw an elbow and a short piece of pipe for a tiller (Fig. 456). If suitable gas-pipe cannot be found, the blacksmith can fix an arrangement that will answer, but it must be strongly fastened to the rudder-blocks, and there should be some kind of metal bearing between the wooden top of the rudder and the under side of the backbone, if nothing more than a washer. The two surfaces of wood should not rub against each other. Wind the handle of the tiller with cord, cloth, or bicycle tape.

Stay the bowsprit (or forward end of the backbone) by stout wires to the runner-plank. These can best be of wire rope passed through eye-bolts or attached to iron straps and tightened with turnbuckles, but to save that expense strong wire can be used. Notches can be cut at the edges of the runner-plank and the backbone, and wire be wound around to hold rings to which the wire guys can be fastened, but it is hard to make such an arrangement taut and to keep it so. Next fasten a mast step with square hole to the backbone (Fig. 457), forward of the front edge of the runner-plank. Put in eye-bolts at ends of the runner-plank and at the bow for shrouds and a few inches from the stern of the backbone for the main sheet. Wire rope is best for the shrouds, but common wire or rope can be used. For the mast and spars use natural sticks of spruce. The sides of the box can be built up higher at the stern with boards, if you wish, to prevent being thrown off by the sudden movements of the boat. A rubber washer under the backbone where the rudder-post passes through is sometimes used to lessen the jar when passing over obstructions. A curved piece of wood fastened on the under side of the backbone just in front of the rudder will act as a fender for the rudder, in case of slight obstructions.

The whole boat can be oiled, painted, or varnished if desired (see _Finishing_ and _Painting_).

If you use a cat-rig, spritsail, or other rig without any head-sail before the mast, it would be well to place the runner-plank further forward.

The latest and best way to brace the frame of an ice-boat is to strain guys of wire rope (Fig. 458), tightened with turnbuckles, omitting the side pieces, and fastening a car or box to the backbone, but this arrangement, though lighter and more elastic, is more expensive and not so easy to make for a small boat as the one just described.

A somewhat simpler way to arrange the framework is shown in Figs. 459, 460, and 461. In place of the runners already described a cheaper arrangement can be made by the blacksmith of 5/8" bar iron, steeled, and bent up at the ends, as shown in Fig. 461.

A much smaller affair can be made by simply arranging two pieces of joist or plank in the form of a cross (bracing them so far as may be necessary), putting cleats under each end of the shorter cross-piece or runner-board and fastening common skates to the cleats, using another pivoted skate at the stern for a rudder. The runners of the skates should be ground, or filed, as shown above.

The details of such a small ice-boat you can work out for yourself by modifying and simplifying according to your ingenuity the suggestions for a larger boat given above. The hardest part to fix is the rudder-post and tiller. Some iron arrangement is best, but something can be contrived in the following manner, which is not, however, recommended as very satisfactory. Fasten the rudder skate upon a piece of board in which is cut a mortise. Into this mortise a short piece of hard wood, like a large broomstick with squared end, is fitted for a rudder-post. The upper end of the rudder-post, squared just like the lower end, is fitted into a mortise cut in the tiller piece. A washer should be placed between the skate-block and the backbone, and the rudder-post should turn freely in the hole in the backbone, but not loosely enough to wobble around. Cut the mortise in the tiller and fit to the post before cutting off and shaping the tiller, to avoid danger of splitting. An extra block may have to be put under the backbone at the rudder to level the boat so that the skates will bear properly on the ice, for if the stern is much lower, so that they drag by the heels, the boat will not sail properly. Wooden arrangements of this sort are, however, only justifiable as makeshifts, and require good workmanship to be strong and effective.

=House-Boat.=--A house-boat consists of two parts, one of which (the boat) is essentially like the scow or flat boat already described, and the other (the house) is usually much the same as some of the little structures described in Part III. (_House-building for Beginners_), however expensively and elaborately it may be arranged and fitted up. The advantages of the house-boat for camping, shooting, fishing, and for some kinds of excursions are too well known to require explanation. It is an excellent thing for two or more to build together. It may not be out of place to suggest that, in the desire to have the house sufficiently large and convenient, you should not be misled into making plans which will necessitate building a large boat. Dimensions (on paper) for such things are quite deceptive, and to build a large boat, even of such a simple type as the scow or flatboat, is quite a serious undertaking for the beginner--as regards both labour and expense.

* * * * *

If you can find a scow or flatboat already built, of suitable dimensions and which is sufficiently tight, or can be made so by caulking, you have only to proceed to build the house upon it. If, however, the boat as well as the house is to be built, you can proceed to build the boat in the way already described (page 299). Additional suggestions may be found in Figs. 462 and 463.

Before beginning read carefully _Marking_, _Rule_, _Square_, _Saw_, _Plane_, _Nailing_, in Part V., and look up any other references.

Two-inch plank should be used for these boats, which are intended to be from 14' to 20' long. After putting together the sides, ends, and bottom, as already described, 2" × 4" joists can be laid lengthways on the bottom, as shown, which will afford an underpinning for the house, will distribute the weight over the bottom, keep the floor raised above the water which may leak in or collect from the rain, and also stiffen the structure of the boat. Before laying these joists, notches should be cut on the under edges with the saw or hatchet, in several places, to allow the water to pass through, as in the case of the boats already described.

The illustrations show a general system of construction for the house, which can be followed, or you can make such alterations as you think desirable. In addition to the suggestions in the accompanying illustrations, further details and suggestions will be found in Part III. (_House-building for Beginners_). Most of the details are matters of personal preference, and can readily be arranged without more detailed description. The roof had best be covered with canvas, put on as one piece (being sewed previously if necessary). If laid in paint and then given two or three coats of paint, much as in the case of the canvas-sheathed canoes already described, a tight and durable roof will be the result. After the edges of the canvas are tacked under the edge of the roof, strips of moulding can be nailed around under the edge.

An even simpler way to make the roof is to have it flat, but slanting slightly towards either bow or stern. An inclination of 3" is enough, with tight canvas roof, to shed the water.

The remaining details of the construction of the house have already been treated. The interior arrangements you can contrive as desired.

Either, or both, of the ends can be decked over, or the whole can first be decked over and the house built on the deck. In this case, access to the hull, for stowage, can be had by hatches, or trap-doors inside the house. If both the ends are to be decked, the hull can very well have one or two lengthways divisions of plank, for stiffness and strength,--that is, insert between the ends one or two pieces of the size and shape of the sides, in which case the lengthways joist already spoken of will be omitted. This is a good way. In case of decking, nail a strip of moulding on the outside along the juncture of the house and the deck, so as to make a tight joint, which should be well painted.

If one or both ends are undecked, a removable grating of slats (a part of which is shown in Fig. 462) will be useful.

It is well to have at least one window at the bow end of the house, for the boat will of course lie with bow towards the wind and it will be a good thing when housed in a storm to be able to see to windward, as you cannot well keep the door at that end open, while the after door will usually be sufficiently sheltered to be left open. Many modifications of these simple plans can be made. The roof can be extended over either end, which is easily done without altering the system of construction. This is very convenient under some circumstances, and will add but little to the expense. The frame can even be covered with canvas, but this will be inferior to wood, except in point of lightness. A solid roof is best, however, in any case.

Sweeps must, of course, be provided for rowing, sculling, or steering, and a mast can easily be added, on which sufficient sail can be hoisted to be quite a help in going before the wind. If a mast is used, the door at the bow end of the house can be at one side of the end so that the mast can be close to the house, to which it can be fastened. A rudder can be added, if desired, with a skag.

The whole craft should be thoroughly painted (see _Painting_).

Houses are sometimes built on rafts. This will do very well if the raft is a good one, like a float. A float can be easily made, if you have the materials, by laying a thick flooring on logs or heavy timbers and providing greater buoyancy than such a platform naturally has by fastening under it, between the timbers, as many empty and sealed barrels or casks (oil-barrels are good) as may be necessary. When the float is stationary and under ordinary circumstances, there is, of course, no need to fasten the casks in any way except to fence them around so that they cannot roll or slide out, as their buoyancy will prevent their escaping, but it is easy to fasten them by chains or otherwise if needed. This makes an excellent foundation on which to build a house, and has some advantages over a boat for a stationary arrangement, but is obviously not as well suited for moving around as a scow or flatboat.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] Unless too heavily loaded, a canvas-covered canoe will float in case of a capsize, but some form of air-chambers is desirable and a safe precaution in any small boat. It is hardly safe to rely upon your ability to build water-tight compartments in the ends of canvas (or wooden) boats, as is sometimes recommended--that is, as a part of the regular construction of the boat. It is not easy for an amateur to do this. It is better to have the air-tight compartments made separately and independent of the boat itself. Copper boxes or air-tanks fitted to the space at the ends are the best and the only really reliable expedient, but they are expensive. Light wooden boxes covered with canvas and thoroughly painted can be used, as well as galvanised boxes or even varnish cans sealed and painted. Any such contrivance can be made tight at first, but is always liable to become leaky (except by the use of copper tanks), particularly as it is usually concealed from examination.