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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
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BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING
[Illustration: Bound for a good time]
BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING
by
D. C. BEARD
With Many Illustrations by the Author
New York
Charles Scribner's Sons
1931
Copyright, 1911, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
Printed in the United States of America
Special Notice
All the material in this book, both text and cuts, is original with
the author and invented by him; and warning is hereby given that the
unauthorized printing of any portion of the text and the reproduction
of any of the illustrations or diagrams are expressly forbidden.
[Illustration: The Scribner Press]
AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
TOM AND HI
PREFACE
THIS is not a book for yacht-builders, but it is intended for beginners
in the art of boat-building, for boys and men who wish to make
something with which they may navigate the waters of ponds, lakes, or
streams. It begins with the most primitive crafts composed of slabs
or logs and works up to scows, house-boats, skiffs, canoes and simple
forms of sailing craft, a motor-boat, and there it stops. There are so
many books and magazines devoted to the higher arts of ship-building
for the graduates to use, besides the many manufacturing houses which
furnish all the parts of a sail-boat, yacht, or motor-boat for the
ambitious boat-builder to put together himself, that it is unnecessary
for the author to invade that territory.
Many of the designs in this book have appeared in magazines to which
the author contributed, or in his own books on general subjects, and
all these have been successfully built by hundreds of boys and men.
Many of them are the author's own inventions, and the others are his
own adaptations of well-known and long-tried models. In writing and
collecting this material for boat-builders from his other works and
placing them in one volume, the author feels that he is fulfilling
the wishes of many of his old readers and offering a useful book to
a large audience of new recruits to the army of those who believe in
the good old American doctrine of: "If you want a thing done, do it
yourself." And by doing it yourself you not only add to your skill and
resourcefulness, but, what is even more important, you develop your own
self-reliance and manhood.
No one man can think of everything connected with any one subject,
and the author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to several
sportsmen friends, especially to his camp-mate, Mr. F. K. Vreeland, and
his young friend, Mr. Samuel Jackson, for suggestions of great value to
both writer and reader.
DAN BEARD.
FLUSHING, L. I., _Sept., 1911._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. HOW TO CROSS A STREAM ON A LOG 3
II. HOME-MADE BOATS 8
III. A RAFT THAT WILL SAIL 18
IV. CANOES 25
V. CANOES AND BOATING STUNTS 33
VI. THE BIRCH-BARK 48
VII. HOW TO BUILD A PADDLING DORY 69
VIII. THE LANDLUBBER'S CHAPTER 74
IX. HOW TO RIG AND SAIL SMALL BOATS 96
X. MORE RIGS OF ALL KINDS FOR SMALL BOATS 111
XI. KNOTS, BENDS, AND HITCHES 123
XII. HOW TO BUILD A CHEAP BOAT 139
XIII. A "ROUGH-AND-READY" BOAT 154
XIV. HOW TO BUILD CHEAP AND SUBSTANTIAL HOUSE-BOATS 163
XV. A CHEAP AND SPEEDY MOTOR-BOAT 184
Boat-Building and Boating
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--The logomaran.]
BOAT-BUILDING AND BOATING
CHAPTER I
HOW TO CROSS A STREAM ON A LOG
How to Build a Logomaran
THERE is a widespread notion that all wood will float on water, and
this idea often leads to laughable errors. I know a lot of young
backwoods farmers who launched a raft of green oak logs, and were as
much astonished to see their craft settle quietly to the bottom of
the lake as they would have been to see the leaden sinkers of their
fish-lines dance lightly on the surface of the waves. The young fellows
used a day's time to discover what they might have learned in a few
moments by watching the chips sink when they struck the water as they
flew from the skilful blows of their axes.
The stream which cuts your trail is not always provided with bridges
of fallen trees. It may be a river too deep to ford and too wide to be
bridged by a chance log. Of course it is a simple matter to swim, but
the weather may be cold and the water still colder; besides this, you
will probably be encumbered with a lot of camp equipage--your gun, rod,
and camera--none of which will be improved by a plunge in the water. Or
it may so happen that you are on the shores of a lake unsupplied with
boats, and you have good reasons for supposing that big fish lurk in
some particular spot out of reach from the shore. A thousand and one
emergencies may arise when a craft of some kind will be not only a
great convenience, but almost a necessity. Under these circumstances
A Logomaran
may be constructed in a very short time which can bear you and your
pack safely to the desired goal (Fig. 1).
[Illustration: Fig. 2.--The notch.]
[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Top view of logomaran.]
In the Rocky, Cascade, and Selkirk Mountains, the lakes and streams
have their shores plentifully supplied with "whim sticks," logs
of fine dry timber, which the freshets have brought down from the
mountain sides and which the rocks and surging torrents have denuded
of bark. These whim sticks are of all sizes, and as sound and perfect
as kiln-dried logs. Even in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where the
lumberman's axe years ago laid waste the primeval forest, where the
saw-mills have devoured the second growth, the tie-hunter the third
growth, the excelsior-mills and birch-beer factories the saplings, I
still find good sound white pine-log whim sticks strewn along the
shores of the lakes and streams, timber which is suitable for temporary
rafts and logomarans.
In the North Woods, where in many localities the original forest is
untouched by the devouring pulp-mills, suitable timber is not difficult
to find; so let the green wood stand and select a log of dry wood from
the shore where the floods or ice have deposited it. Cut it into a
convenient length, and with a lever made of a good stout sapling, and a
fulcrum of a stone or chunk of wood, pry the log from its resting-place
and roll it into the shallow water. Notch the log on the upper side, as
shown by Fig. 2, making a notch near each end for the cross-pieces.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Flattened joint.]
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Fig. 6.
Matched joints.]
The two side floats may be made of pieces split, by the aid of wooden
wedges, from a large log, or composed of small whim sticks, as shown by
Fig. 3.
The floats, as may be seen by reference to Figs. 1 and 3, are shorter
than the middle log.
It is impracticable to give dimensions, for the reason that they are
relative; the length of the middle log depends, to some extent, upon
its diameter, it being evident that a thick log will support more than
a thin one of the same length; consequently if your log is of small
diameter, it must be longer, in order to support your weight, than will
be necessary for a thicker piece of timber. The point to remember is to
select a log which will support you and your pack, and then attach two
side floats to balance your craft and prevent it from rolling over and
dumping its load in the water.
An ordinary single shell-boat without a passenger will upset, but
when the oarsman takes his seat and grasps his long spoon oars, the
sweeps, resting on the water, balance the cranky craft, and it cannot
upset as long as the oars are kept there. This is the principle of the
logomaran, as well as that of the common catamaran. The cross-pieces
should be only thick enough to be secure and long enough to prevent the
log from wabbling and wetting your feet more than is necessary.
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--The saw-buck crib.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--The staked crib.]
If You Have an Auger and No Nails
the craft may be fastened together with wooden pegs cut somewhat larger
than the holes bored to receive them, and driven in with blows from
your axe.
If you have long nails or spikes the problem is a simple one; but if
you have neither auger, nails, nor spikes you must bind the joints with
rope or hempen twine.
If you have neither nails, auger, nor rope, a good substitute for the
latter can be made from the long,
Fibrous Inner Bark
of a dead or partly burned tree. For experiment I took some of the
inner bark of a chestnut-tree which had been killed by fire and twisted
it into a rope the size of a clothes-line, then I allowed two strong
men to have a tug-of-war with it, and the improvised rope was stronger
than the men.
How to Make a Fibre Rope
Take one end of a long, loose strand of fibres, give the other end to
another person, and let both twine the ends between the fingers until
the material is well twisted throughout its entire length; then bring
the two ends together, and two sides of the loop thus made will twist
themselves into a cord or rope half the length of the original strand.
If you nail or peg the parts, use your axe to flatten the joints by
striking off a chip, as in Fig. 4.
If you must lash the joints together, cut them with log-cabin notches,
as in Figs. 5 and 6.
If you have baggage to transport, make
A Dunnage Crib
by driving four stakes in cuts made near the end of the centre log and
binding them with rope or fibre (Figs. 7 and 8), or by working green
twigs basket-fashion around them, or make the rack saw-buck fashion, as
shown by Fig. 7, and this will keep your things above water.
A couple of cleats nailed on each side of the log will be of great
assistance and lessen the danger and insecurity of the footing.
A skilfully made logomaran will enable you to cross any stream with a
moderate current and any small lake in moderate weather. It is not an
especially dry craft, but it won't sink or upset, and will take one but
a short time to knock it together.