Boat-Building and Boating

by Daniel Carter Beard

Now for the Bottom

This is simple work. All that is necessary is to have straight, true edges to your one-inch planks, fit them together, and nail them in place. Of course, when you come to the slant at bow and stern the bottom-boards at each end will have to have a bevelled edge, to fit snugly against the boards on the flat part of the bottom of the boat; but any boy who is accustomed to shake the gray matter in his brain can do this. Remember, scientists say that thought is the agitation of the gray matter of the brain, and if you are going to build a boat or play a good game of football you must shake up that gray stuff, or the other boys will put you down as a "stuff." No boy can expect to be successful in building a boat, of even the crudest type, unless he keeps his wits about him, so I shall take it for granted that there are no "stuffs" among my readers.

After the boards are all snugly nailed on the bottom, and fitted together so that there are no cracks to calk up; the hull is ready to have