To Contrive a Movable Front
to your cabin, make two doors to fit and close the front opening, but in place of hanging the doors on hinges, set them in place. Each door should have a good strong strap nailed securely on the inside, for a handle, and a batten or cross-piece at top and bottom of inside surface. A 1½ by 4, run parallel to the front top cross-frame and nailed there, just a sufficient distance from it to allow the top of the door to be inserted between, will hold the top of the door securely. A two-by-four, with bolt-holes near either end to correspond with bolt-holes in the floor, will hold the bottom when the door is pushed in place, the movable bottom-piece shoved against it and the bolts thrust in (see [Fig. 225], view from inside of cabin. [Fig. 226], side view). It will be far less work to break in the side of the cabin than to burst in such doors, if they are well made. These doors possess this advantage: they can be removed and used as table-tops, leaving the whole front open to the summer breeze, or one may be removed, and still allow plenty of ventilation. A moulding on deck around the cabin is not necessary, but it will add finish and prevent the rain-water from leaking in.
To lock up the boat you must set the doors from the inside, and if you wish to leave the craft locked you must crawl out of the window and fasten the latter with a lock.
| Fig. 225.—Inside view of door. | Fig 226—Side view of door. |
[Fig. 227] shows the construction of