A "ROUGH-AND-READY" BOAT
Just What One Must Do to Build It--Detailed Instructions as to How to
Make the Boat and How to Rig It
GOOD straight-grained pine wood is, without doubt, the best
"all-around" wood for general use. It is easily whittled with a
pocket-knife; it works smoothly under a plane; can be sawed without
fatiguing the amateur carpenter; it is elastic and pliable; therefore
use pine lumber to build your boat.
Examine the lumber pile carefully and select four boards nearly alike.
Do not allow the dealer or his men to talk you into taking lumber with
blemishes. The side pieces should be of straight-grained wood, with no
large knots and no "checks" (cracks) in them, and must not be "wind
shaken."
Measure the wood and see that it is over twenty-two feet long by one
foot four or five inches wide and one inch thick. Trim two of the
side-pieces until they are exact duplicates (Fig. 206). The stem-piece
(or bow-piece) should be made from a triangular piece of oak (Fig.
212), and it is wise to make it a few inches longer than will be
necessary, so that there may be no danger of finding, after all your
labor, that the stick is too short; much better too long, for it is a
simple matter to saw it off. Make a second stem-piece (Fig. 213) of oak
about one inch thick and the same length as the first, and two or three
inches wide, or twice as wide as the thickness of the side-boards.
The Stern-piece
The stern-piece can be fashioned out of two-inch pine boards, and
may be made as wide or narrow as you choose. A narrow stern makes a
trim-looking craft. With your saw cut off the corner of the tail-piece,
so that it will be in the form of a blunted triangle (Fig. 214),
measuring three feet ten and one-half inches across the base, three
feet four inches on each side, and nine and one-half inches at the
apex. The base of the triangle will be the top and the apex will be the
bottom of the stern-board of your boat.
[Illustration: Fig. 206.
Fig. 207.
Fig. 208.
Fig. 209.
Fig. 210.
Diagrams showing the construction of the rough-and-ready.]
Now make a brace on which to model your boat. Let it be of two-inch
pine wood, two and one-half feet wide and seven and one-half feet long
(Fig. 207). Measure twelve inches on one edge of this board from each
end toward the centre and mark the points; then rule lines from these
points diagonally across the width of the board (A, B and C, D--Fig.
207), and saw off the corners, as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 207.
Lay the boards selected for the lower side-boards on a level floor
and measure off one and one-half foot on the bottom edge, then in a
line with the end of the board mark a point on the floor that would
be the top edge of the board if the board were two and one-half feet
wide; rule a line from the point on the floor to the point marked on
the board and saw off the corner as marked; make the other side-piece
correspond exactly with the first (Fig. 206).
Use Rope for Binding
Set the side-pieces upon their bottoms or shorter edges and place the
brace between the sides. Now bind the stern ends with a rope and bring
the bow-pieces together until they touch; rope them in this position,
and when all is fast push the brace up until it rests at a point nine
feet from the bow; fasten it here with a couple of nails driven in,
but leaving their heads far enough from the wood to render it easy to
draw them out. Now adjust the bow-piece, and use the greatest of care
in making the sides exactly alike, otherwise you will wonder how you
happened to have such an unaccountable twist in your craft. When the
stem is properly adjusted fasten on the side-boards with screws. Do
not try to hammer the screws in place, but bore holes first and use a
screwdriver.
Take your stern-piece and measure the exact width of the stern end
of the bottom-boards and mark it at the bottom of the stern-piece;
or, better still, since the stern-board will set at an angle, put it
temporarily in place, bind it fast with the ropes, and mark with a
pencil just where the side-boards cross the ends of the stern-board.
Remove the stern-board and saw out a piece one inch wide, the thickness
of the bottom-board, from the place marked to the bottom of the
stern-board. Because the top side-board overlaps the bottom one at the
stern, there must be either a large crack left there or the stern-board
notched to fit the side-boards (Fig. 214). Replace the stern-board and
nail side-boards fast to it; now loosen the ropes which have held your
boat in shape, and fit on the upper side-boards so that at the stern
they will overlap the lower side-boards an inch. Hold in place with
your rope, then bring the bow end up against the stern-piece over the
top of the lower side-board and fasten it in place with a rope. With
your carpenter's pencil mark the overlap, and with a plane made for
that purpose, called a rabbet, trim down your board so that it will
have a shoulder and an overlap to rest on the bottom-board, running out
to nothing at the bow. When the boards fit all right over the lower
ones bind them in place and then nail them there (Fig. 208). If you can
obtain two good boards of the requisite size, you need have but one
board for each side of your boat; this will obviate the necessity of
using the rabbet, and be very much easier; but with single boards of
the required dimensions there is great danger of splitting or cracking
while bending the boards.
[Illustration: Fig. 215.
Fig. 211.
Figs. 212, 213, and 214.
The rough-and-ready.]
Planing the Bottom
Turn the boat upside down and you will see that there is a decided arch
extending from stem to stern. This would cause the boat to sink too
deep amidship, and must be remedied to some extent by cutting away the
middle of the arch, so that the sides in the exact centre will measure
at least four inches less in width than at the bow and stern, and
reducing the convex or curved form to a straight line in the middle,
which will give a sheer to the bow and stern. A good plane is the best
tool to use for this purpose, as with it there is no danger of cutting
too deep or of splitting the side-boards. Saw off the projecting ends
of the side-boards at the stern.
Make the bottom of three-quarter-inch boards, they may be bevelled like
Fig. 231. Lay the boards crosswise, nail them in place, leaving the
irregular ends projecting on each side. The reason for this is obvious.
When you look at the bottom of the boat you will at once see that
on account of the form no two boards can be the same shape, and the
easiest way is to treat the boat bottom as if it were a square-sided
scow. Fit the planks closely together, nail them on securely, and then
neatly saw off the projecting ends (Fig. 210).
The Deck
The brace may now be removed by carefully drawing the nails, so that
a bottom plank trimmed to fit the bow and the stern can be securely
nailed in place (Fig. 216). Cut a notch in your brace to fit tightly
over the bottom plank just laid. Plane off the top of the brace so that
when in the boat the top of the brace will be four inches below the top
of the side-boards. Replace the brace and securely nail it. Next cut
two small cross-pieces (F, G, Fig. 209) and place them near the bow,
four inches below the top of the sides of the boat. Drive the nails
from the outside through the side-boards into the end of F and G, the
cross-brace. Cut out a bow-piece to fit from the middle of G to the bow
and nail it in place, driving the nails from the outside into the edge
of the bow-piece. Fasten a small cleat along the boat from the solid
board brace to F on each side and deck the space over with light lumber.
Of the same material make a trap door to fit in between the braces F
and G. This door should be big enough for a boy to reach through, for
this compartment is intended as a safe place to store cooking utensils,
foods, etc., as well as a water-tight compartment. At a point five feet
from the stern put another cross-brace, similar to the ones in the bow,
four inches below the top of the sides. At the same level nail a cleat
on the stern-piece and make a stern seat by boarding over between the
cross-piece and the cleat. When your boat is resting securely on the
floor or level ground rig a temporary seat, then take an oar and by
experiment find just where the rowlock will be most convenient and mark
the spot. Also mark the spot best suited for the seat. On each side of
the spot marked for the rowlock cut two notches in the side-boards two
inches deep, one and a half inch wide, and three inches apart. Saw two
more notches exactly like these upon the opposite side of your boat.
These will make the rowlocks when the side-strips are nailed on (Fig.
216).
[Illustration: Fig. 216.--Top view of rough-and-ready, with tiller
stick.]
The side-strips should each be made of one-inch plank three inches wide
and a few inches longer than the side-boards. Nail the strips on the
outside of the boat flush with the top of the side-boards. Make your
thole-pins of some hard wood, and make two sets of them while you are
about it, "one set to use and one set to lose." Screw a hard-wood cleat
on the inside of your boat over each pair of rowlocks, as shown in Fig.
216.
Ready for the Water
Fasten the remaining bow-piece securely over the ends of your
side-boards, and the nose of your craft is finished.
Put a good, heavy keel on your boat by screwing it tightly in the stern
to the hard-wood rudder-post that is fastened to the centre of the
stern; bolt your keel with four iron bolts (Fig. 211) to the bottom
of the boat, and the ship is ready to launch, after which she can be
equipped with sails and oars.
Of course, you understand that all nail-holes and crevices should be
puttied up, and if paint is used, it must be applied before wetting the
boat. But if you have done your work well, there will be little need
of paint or putty to make it tight after the wood has swelled in the
water. Fasten your rudder on with hooks and screw-eyes, and make it as
shown in the diagram (Fig. 211). Step your mainmast in the bow through
a round hole in the deck and a square hole in the step, which must, of
course, be screwed tightly to the bottom before the bow is decked over.
Step your jigger or dandy mast in the stern after the same manner.
These masts should neither of them be very large, and are intended to
be removed at pleasure by unstepping them, that is, simply pulling them
out of their sockets. An outrigger will be found necessary for your
dandy-sail, and since the deck aft is below the sides of the boat, a
block of wood will have to be nailed to the deck to the starboard, or
right-hand, side of the rudder-post. If the builder chooses, he can
make the decks flush with the sides of the boat and thus avoid blocks.
A couple of staples for the out-rigger to slip through are next in
order. They must be fastened firmly in the block or stick of wood just
nailed to the deck. A similar arrangement can be made for the bowsprit,
but as it is a movable bowsprit, and the stem of the boat is in the
way, put it to the port, or left-hand, side of the stem of the craft
(Fig. 216).
How to Make the Sail
Secure for a sail material as strong as you can find, but it need not
be heavy. Unbleached muslin is cheap and will make good sails. Turn
over the edges and sew or hem them, as in the diagram. Make eyelets
like button-holes in the luff of the sail--that is, the edge of the
sail nearest the mast. Sew a small loop of rope in each corner of the
sail. Through the eyelets lace the luff of the sail to the mast.
From spruce or pine make a sprit two inches in diameter. For a
"sheet"--that is, the rope or line that you manage the sail with--tie a
good stout line about a dozen feet long to the loop in the loose corner
of the sail. Trim the upper end of the sprit to fit the loop in the top
of the sail and make a simple notch in the other end to hold the line
called the "snotter."
[Illustration: Fig. 217, with tiller.--Rudder lines.]
Now, as you can readily see by referring to Fig. 211, when the sprit
is pushed into the loop at the top of the sail the sail is spread. To
hold it in place make a cleat like the one in the diagram and bind it
firmly with a cord to the sprit; pass the snotter, or line, fastened to
the mast through the notch in the sprit up to the cleat and make fast,
and the sail is set. The jigger, or dandy, is exactly like the mainsail
except in size, and the sheet rope is run through a block or pulley at
the end of the outrigger and then made fast to a cleat near the man at
the rudder or helm. The jib is a simple affair hooked on a screw-eye
in the end of the bowsprit. The jib halyard, or line for hoisting the
jib, runs from the top of the jib through a screw-eye in the top of the
mast, down the port side of the mast to a cleat, where it is made fast.
When the jib is set the jib-sheets are fastened to a loop sewed in the
jib at the lower or loose end. There are two jib-sheets, one for each
side of the boat, so that one may be made fast and the other loosened,
according to the wind. The remaining details you must study out from
the diagrams or learn by experiment.
How to Reef Her
When the wind is high reef your sails by letting go the snotter and
pulling out the sprit. This will drop your peak and leave you with a
simple leg-of-mutton sail. Only use the jib in light weather.
In this boat, with a little knowledge of sailing, you may cruise for
weeks, lowering your sails at night and making a tent over the cock-pit
for a sleeping-room. Sails with boom and gaffs may be used if desired.