THE CARE OF BOATS
Every boat, no matter how small, requires a certain amount of care and
attention and this is a matter which is all too often neglected.
The larger the boat the more care it will require, while boats in salt
water need far more attention than those in fresh water.
If a boat is pulled up on shore, or is placed in a boathouse when not in
use, it will require less care than a craft kept in the water at an
anchorage or moorings, but even when thus hauled out there are a certain
number of things which must be attended to.
Boats in the water are subject to the action of the water, the
depredations of marine animals, the growth of marine plants and to the
dangers from storms. Unless these are guarded against and overcome a
boat will soon be worthless. In fresh water the effect of the water upon
wood and metal is far less injurious than in salt water and the troubles
from animal life and water plants are almost negligible. When in salt
water these things are among the most important matters to be guarded
against and constant care and watchfulness are necessary if a boat is to
be kept in good condition.
Salt water corrodes and rusts iron very rapidly and hence boats with
plain iron fastenings and fittings should be avoided for salt water use.
Copper or brass fastenings and brass or bronze fittings are far better,
but these are expensive. Galvanized iron is therefore adopted very
generally for salt water use on boats.
Even when a boat is well painted and the iron parts are thus protected,
the salt water will corrode and destroy the iron work and just as soon
as the paint becomes old, thin, worn or chipped off, the parts go to
pieces very rapidly. For this reason boats should always be kept well
painted and varnished at all times, and whenever a bit of paint is
rubbed or knocked off, it should immediately be touched up with fresh
paint.
In salt water, too, marine animals and seaweeds attach themselves to
every submerged portion of a boat’s hull and grow very rapidly.
Not only do these growths hinder a boat from sailing well and rapidly,
but they also destroy the paint and injure the wood beneath it. This
paves the way for the water to soak into the planks and timbers and rot
them and corrode the metal fastenings which hold the various parts of
the boat together.
Still more injurious are the shipworms or _teredos_. These are marine
animals which are not really worms at all, but are a species of mollusc
related to the common clam. They do not _eat_ the wood, as many people
think, but merely bore into it to form their homes or burrows, and
wherever they go they line their holes with a thin coating of lime or
shell.
The shipworms are very small when they first enter the wood and as they
increase in size they bore larger and larger holes until they riddle the
wood with burrows and completely destroy it. No signs, however, save a
few tiny holes, may be visible externally. So rapidly do they work if
unchecked that large ships have been sunk by them in less than a year
and there are several records of such catastrophes occurring.
Teredos seldom attack wood which is far below the surface but work
mostly at or near the water line. For that reason small boats of shallow
draft are often more seriously and rapidly injured by these pests than
larger and deeper boats.
Moreover the shipworms seek spots which are out of sight for their
depredations and unless the boat-owner is very careful he may overlook
very serious injuries by the teredos without dreaming that they exist.
The cracks between keels and sternposts, between keels and garboard
planks and the interior or centerboard trunks and cases are favorite
spots for teredos to bore and quite often the timbers in such situations
are completely destroyed and the boat is rendered worthless before one
realizes that teredos have attacked the boat at all.
But even without marine growths and teredos the planks and timbers of a
boat may become rotten and useless through the action of the water. This
is particularly the case where a boat rests upon a muddy bottom at low
tide, for the mud contains gases and chemicals which destroy the paint
and this allows the water to penetrate and rot the wood.
To guard against these three principal dangers every boat should be
hauled out at frequent intervals, the bottom should be scrubbed, scraped
and cleaned, and should then be allowed to dry thoroughly, after which
it should be freshly painted with some reliable and good anti-fouling
bottom paint such as the various copper paints. Large boats are usually
sheathed or covered with copper plates below the water line in order to
protect the wood, but small boats depend upon a coating of copper paint.
Whenever a boat is hauled out to be scraped and painted it should be
examined carefully for rot or worms and the various planks, the keel,
stem, sternpost, centerboard, centerboard trunk and case and in fact,
all the woodwork below water should be tested for teredos or rot by
probing with the tip of a knife blade. If the wood is sound the blade
will not penetrate readily, whereas if the wood has been injured by
worms or is rotten the blade will enter very easily. When this occurs a
thorough investigation should be made to determine the extent of the
damage.
If the spot is small it may be dug out by a chisel or gouge and the
cavity may be filled with white lead or marine glue and painted over,
whereas if there is a large area damaged a new plank or a new piece of
timber must be fitted. In any case every hole, crack or crevice should
be carefully plugged with white lead or marine glue before painting, for
if this is not done rot and worms will be almost certain to find the
unprotected spots and will commence to destroy the wood.
If there is a stream or body of fresh water near at hand a great deal of
time and trouble may be avoided by running your boat into fresh water
and allowing her to remain there for a day or two at a time. Marine
growths and teredos cannot live in fresh water and any which have become
attached to the boat will die and drop off when the craft is left for a
short time in fresh water. To be efficacious the water must be really
fresh and _not_ brackish, for many marine plants and animals _will_ live
and thrive in brackish water.
When boats are first placed in the water they are dry and often leak
badly, but as the wood swells with the action of the water the seams
tighten up and often a boat which leaks like a sieve when first launched
will be perfectly tight after a few days’ immersion. For this reason you
should not be discouraged if your boat leaks when you first put her in
the water, but if she still leaks after two or three days you may be
sure there is something wrong which should be attended to at once. By
bailing out the water and wiping the inside dry with a sponge you can
usually find the leak, and if it is small it may be stopped by pushing
caulking cotton into the seam or crack with a thin knife blade or a
putty knife. Very often a small leak may be caused by a nail hole and
this may be stopped completely by driving in a tiny wooden plug.
If there is difficulty in locating the leak from inside the boat, if the
leak is large or if there are several, the boat should be hauled out on
shore and partly filled with water. Then, by watching the outside of the
hull, you can easily find where the water runs out. The spots should
then be marked, the water drawn out by means of the boat plug (a wooden
plug driven into a hole through the planks near the keel), and the seams
where the leaks occur should be cleaned free of all putty, paint and old
caulking and should be recaulked.
It is an easy matter to caulk a seam if a little care is used, the only
implements and tools required being a small caulking iron, some caulking
cotton and a hammer. Unravel a strand of the cotton, roll it between
your palms until it forms a strand a trifle larger than the width of the
crack to be caulked and then press the end into the seam with a corner
of the caulking iron or a knife blade. Catch the strand of cotton
lightly into the seam in this way all along the seam and then with the
caulking iron and hammer drive the cotton well into the opening. It is
impossible to describe just how to use the iron, but it is a knack soon
acquired and is accomplished by a sort of rocking motion with the iron
as the tool is struck lightly with the hammer.
Drive the cotton well below the surface of the wood but _don’t_ try to
force in too much and _don’t_ drive it in so hard that it spreads or
starts the plank. When the seams are well filled with cotton press white
lead or marine glue over the caulking and paint thoroughly. _Never_ use
putty on a boat, especially below the water line, for it will crumble
and fall out very soon and is no better than nothing at all. Use pure,
thick white lead and linseed oil or the best marine glue. The white lead
may be pressed in with a putty knife but marine glue must be run in by
means of a hot iron; full directions accompany the glue when purchased.
[Illustration: CAULKING TOOLS]
1—Caulking mallet. 2, 3, 4, 5—Caulking irons. 6—Caulking
hammer.
Before launching your boat in the spring all the seams should be cleaned
free of old paint and lead, and if any of the old caulking is loose or
hanging out it should be removed and replaced with new and all seams,
rough spots and nail head holes should then be filled with white lead or
marine glue before painting.
_Don’t_ drive the caulking too tightly into the seams when the boat is
dry and _don’t_ fill the seams flush with the glue or lead. Leave a
little hollow along every seam as otherwise, when the boat swells in the
water, the caulking and filling will be forced out and will either flake
off or will present rough, irregular surfaces to the water and will thus
take a great deal from the speed of the boat.
It is a good plan to pour a quantity of water into the boat a few days
before launching as this will swell the planks and if any leaks exist
you can find them before placing the boat overboard.
Before painting any part of the boat, all the old, loose, dry or rough
paint should be scraped and sandpapered smooth and if it is in very bad
shape it should be burned off by a torch, or removed by some good paint-
and varnish-remover until the smooth surface of the wood is exposed.
Use only the very best paint and varnish for the boat, for cheap, poor
paints and varnishes are worse than nothing on a boat, and the very best
is the cheapest in the end. Use very little turpentine and still less
dryer in the paint, for while paint mixed with oil alone may dry slowly,
it will last far longer than paint with a great deal of turpentine or
dryer. Haste makes waste in everything connected with a boat.
Aside from the care of the hull there are the masts, sails and rigging
to be looked after. The masts and spars should be scraped and
sandpapered, varnished with two coats of the best spar-varnish and
allowed to dry thoroughly.
Standing rigging should be overhauled. Any frayed or worn parts should
be renewed, the metal parts should be cleaned free of rust or corrosion
and painted and new running rigging should be rove through the blocks if
the old ropes are frayed, rotten, worn or weak. The blocks should all be
looked over; broken ones should be replaced and sheaves should be oiled
and turned until they move easily on their bearings.
The sails should be spread out; all torn or frayed spots mended and if
reef points, earrings or other ropes on the sails are ravelled, frayed
or worn, they should be replaced.
If the sails are mildewed, dirty or discolored, they should be scrubbed
with good soap and water and bleached in the sun. Finally all stays and
other rigging should be tightened up.
The boat’s equipment should also be overhauled and put in first-class
shape. A good time to attend to this is while the paint and varnish are
drying.
Every boat, no matter how small, should _always_ have an anchor on board
with enough anchor line to allow you to anchor in fairly deep
water—usually from fifty to one hundred feet of line according to the
size of the boat and the depth of the waters where you sail. If the boat
is small and a long anchor line is in the way the anchor may be attached
to a comparatively short line and another line may be coiled and tied
neatly and stored away where it can readily be reached if needed.
There are many kinds of anchors, but the commonest form is the ordinary
two-fluke pattern with a sliding “stock.” When not in use the
cross-piece, or stock, is folded along the shank and thus occupies
little space and when it is to be used the stock is held in position at
right angles to the shank by a metal key. It is a good plan to seize the
stock in position with a bit of line as well as by means of the key for
the latter often works loose and allows the anchor to drag. There are
also several good designs of folding anchors and for very small boats
grapnels may be used if desired.
There is no use in carrying an anchor unless it is large enough to hold
the boat in a reasonable wind and sea and for small boats the anchors
should weigh at least two pounds for every foot of the boat’s water line
length. Every boat over twenty-five feet in length should have at least
two anchors, and one of these should be at least one-and-one-half times
as heavy as the other. In addition to these real anchors there should be
a _sea-anchor_ or _drogue_ in the boat if you ever expect to sail in any
but the smoothest waters and lightest winds.
[Illustration: ANCHORS]
1—Common anchor. 2—Grapnel. 3—Drogue or sea-anchor. 4—Keg
mooring buoy. 5—Iron mooring buoy. 6—Spar mooring buoy.
7—Mushroom anchor.
A drogue or sea-anchor consists of an iron ring or a strong wooden hoop
from one to two feet in diameter which is often hinged or jointed so it
may be folded up, and to this a conical canvas bag is sewn. If the
drogue is to be used on a fairly large boat it should be strengthened by
ropes, as shown in the illustration, and in any case the ring or hoop
should be provided with a four-rope “bridle” as illustrated (_A_). To
the small end a light line (_B_) should be fastened to “trip” the drogue
when you wish to draw it in, and a cork float (_C_) is attached at the
end of a line three or four feet in length (_D_) to prevent the
sea-anchor from sinking or “diving.” Some people prefer a drogue with
the lower or smaller end left open, but the form shown will serve for
all-around purposes as well as any.
The drogue is used when “riding-out” a gale or “lying-to” in a storm or
heavy sea and its purpose is to hold the boat’s bow to the wind and
waves and also to prevent the boat from drifting too rapidly to leeward.
It should be attached to a stout line twenty-five to forty feet in
length and passed over the bows and if there is no sea-anchor at hand a
bucket, a couple of oars lashed crosswise, thwarts, spare sails,
cushions, or, in fact, anything which will float and will offer a
considerable resistance to the water, may be used in place of a drogue.
Not only will a drogue hold a boat’s head on to wind and sea but it will
also form a “smooth” for the boat and will often prevent the waves from
breaking over the bow.
When riding to a drogue a close-reefed sail, or the upper part of the
sail may be set to keep the boat steady if necessary, but most boats
will ride very well to a drogue without any sail whatever.
Be sure that your boat has oars, oarlocks, a boat-hook, a compass and a
lantern on board, for these simple things may save your life and they
will come in useful scores of times. If you go on long cruises or sail
any distance from shore you should also have a keg of fresh water in the
boat at all times, for one never knows when an accident may happen and
the boat may be kept out to sea for many hours at a time and if such an
event _does_ occur you will give heartfelt thanks for your foresight in
providing drinking-water.
Finally there is the ballast. If the boat carries inside ballast it may
be in the form of iron or lead bars, cobble stones or sandbags and these
should be looked over, cleaned and put in good shape. If the sandbags
leak, mend them with strong thread and give them a good coat of paint;
if stones are used wash them in fresh water and let them dry before
placing in the boat, and if iron bars are used, chip off the rust and
give them a coat of asphaltum varnish, or some good metal paint.
When pulling up the boat for the winter or placing her “out of
commission” _always_ drain all the water out of the hull. All weeds,
shells and marine growths should be removed from the bottom and the
planks should be scrubbed off and the keel blocked up so that it rests
on a firm support at several points, as otherwise it may bend or buckle
from the boat’s weight.
The inside ballast should be taken out and placed aside; the running
rigging should be taken down, coiled and hung in a safe dry spot; all
the equipment should be taken from the boat and stored away and the
sails should be soaked in fresh water, dried thoroughly, rolled up and
stored in a dry loft or similar place.
A little care and trouble taken in such matters will save a vast amount
of time, trouble and expense when ready to put the boat in the water,
for dampness, dirt and rust will play havoc with the woodwork, ropes,
sails and other parts of the boat if left alone over winter, while
marine growths and old paint are far easier to remove from the bottom
when wet and fresh than after they have dried and hardened during the
months in which the boat is hauled out.
If you use a mooring this should be taken up in the fall and stored over
winter, for ice will often carry away a mooring buoy and chain which
will resist the most severe storms. If the stone, anchor or other object
used as a mooring is too heavy to be taken up the mooring buoy should be
taken from the chain and a cheap wooden spar or pole should be
substituted. This will resist the action of ice and winter storms better
than the keg or can buoy, and if it is lost it doesn’t amount to much
and the chain can usually be picked up again by a grapnel.
In order that you may be able to locate your mooring, if the buoy is
sunk or carried away, you should make a note of cross bearings (see